


Rules of Engagement

by shittyelfwriter



Category: Santa Clause (Movies)
Genre: (Jacqueline Frost is SafyreSky's OC and I do have permission to use her here!), (especially between Elle and Jacqueline later on), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends to Lovers (and it does go in that order)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21516631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shittyelfwriter/pseuds/shittyelfwriter
Summary: When a letter to Santa brings changes to every aspect of Elle Connelly's life, she faces personal challenges around every corner. Then, Bernard chooses her to become his number two, his right hand. There's something magical binding them together that neither understands...it's a lot for a new elf to handle, but can Elle learn to accept it before it's too late? (Takes place post-movie trilogy.)
Relationships: Bernard the Arch Elf/Original Female Character
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I'm porting my work from ffn over here for safer keeping. I'm new to ao3 and don't know all of the functions yet, so if I make formatting mistakes apologies in advance! This story was originally posted in 2013, under a different title and in a much rougher form. It's been through a repost and two revisions--a third may happen eventually, since it's my passion project, still a wip and I'm always thinking of new things to tweak/refine.
> 
> Some additional warnings in advance: this story contains potentially triggering content/subjects, none of which are worthy of more than a T+ rating (and even that's pushing it, but I've marked it as such for the occasional odd swear word or suggestive joke here or there) but could nevertheless prove problematic for some readers. If the subject of cancer, loss of family/family members, troubled family dynamics and/or dysfunctional parent/child relationships, or discussion of depression and mental health bother you, this may not be the story for you. 
> 
> That being said, if you're still here, I hope you enjoy RoE. It was my first fanfic, and I've met all sorts of friends because of it--including my best friend. After all these years I still have such a big place in my heart for it, and much further to go with it, too. I hope you love it as much as I do. 
> 
> Happy Holidays, and happy reading!  
> -Ana

_1._

Bernard sat at his desk.

This was hardly unusual.

As Head Elf, he spent a lot of time at his desk, doing monotonous paperwork when he'd rather be doing something else. But this time, it wasn't paperwork that had put him there; it was Santa directly, and Bernard couldn't decide if that was better or worse.

For starters, Santa Claus had gotten a call from his father in Hawaii that morning. Surprisingly, Scott was actually on _decent_ operable terms with his father, despite the physical distance that had existed long before he'd donned the suit.

"Hi dad. What's up?" A casual greeting, which belittled the strain Scott was already under. Already he had a situation on his hands with the Handbook, and besides this there was another, less fathomable problem clinging to the outskirts of the Pole's boundaries. But it wasn't often his father asked him for favors, so Santa knew the situation must be dire indeed. He was correct, and what had followed had been a serious and lengthy conversation.

After Santa had hung up the phone, he had sat by himself in the safety of his office, taking in the news and processing it alongside his other existing issues. Slowly, over the course of several painstaking hours of studying, planning, and some sustaining cookies and cocoa, he had a rough idea of what needed to happen. Luckily for everyone involved it seemed he would be able to take care of two problems at once, which would give him more time to worry about the third, more dangerous one.

When he was moderately satisfied with his plan, he sent for the two people he knew could help him sort the situation out.

Bernard should have taken it as a warning when he saw Scott's telltale grin of satisfaction, and excused himself with whatever means necessary. But he didn't, and that would have more of an effect than he ever could have known.

"You rang, sir?" Curtis scrambled into the office, taking up position beside Bernard and flashing his superior a slightly embarrassed grin. Ever since the escape clause incident, Curtis had been on his best behavior to prove that he didn't deserve to be fired. Demoted to the research and development section twas bad enough, but then, he quite liked the lesser burden of responsibility, and the free time he had to work on his projects. He had come to consider the fact that maybe he just wasn't cut out for management, after all.

Bernard narrowed his eyes slightly and turned back to Scott, tilting his chin up ever-so-slightly. Needless to say, he was still searching his heart to find forgiveness for what Curtis had allowed to happen in his absence. It may have been some eleven years since the Escape Clause Incident, but that wasn't long at all in the life of an elf. Scott may have been able to let the situation go, that was human nature to forgive and forget. But Bernard didn't have that advantage, and had been grudging to forgive the mistake that Curtis had made. He had finally given him the chance to play head elf, and he'd completely blown it. It had actually cost them Christmas, but luckily, Scott had been able to reverse the effects of the Clause in time. That level of mistake was hard to just drop—or maybe that was just Bernard being a scrooge. He honestly didn't care if he was somewhat scrooge-like from time-to-time; someone had to keep their head screwed on when it seemed like they were the only person keeping things from descending into chaos.

"Bernard, Curtis, great. Just who I wanted to see."

Bernard frowned. "I gathered. Like Curtis said, you _did_ ring."

Scott gave him a look. " _Alright_ Bernard, don't get your tinsel in a tangle." He adjusted some books on his desk, a few papers fluttering to the ground. "We need to talk. First off, I'd like to ask you to both take a seat. This may take awhile."

Bernard and Curtis exchanged uncomfortable looks. Eventually Curtis shrugged, and scampered off to find a chair on the opposite side of the room. Bernard, with his ability to perform better magic, simply conjured one up for himself with a careless wave of his hand. By the time Curtis returned he was sitting down comfortably with a smirk on his face—a smirk that quickly became a grin when Curtis scowled in irritation, huffing from the weight of the chair he'd just dragged over.

"What seems to be the problem, Santa?" Bernard asked, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles while Curtis plopped exhaustedly down in his seat.

Scott was sitting across from them with his glasses perched on his nose. "Well boys, some things have come to my attention this morning that need to be discussed."

"Uh oh." Curtis coughed, suddenly uncomfortable. He squirmed a little in his seat. "If this is about Chet, I'll deal with it, I promise. I had no idea he knew where we kept the oat cakes, and if I had known he knew, I never would have left him without supervision."

"No, this isn't about Chet," Santa said while scanning a large book in front of him, a finger trailing the page. "Though if you have one more mistake this month I'll have to ban you from the floor, Curtis. That's the third incident this month, we can't have that kind of clumsiness!"

"Sorry, Santa," Curtis replied, clearly dejected. He was staring at his lap in shame, cheeks a bright red. To say that his path to redemption was a long, difficult one was an understatement when he was so clumsy.

"Don't stress yourself out over it, just do better, okay?" Scott smiled at him reassuringly. Curtis gave a half-hearted smile in return.

"Well then if it's about the quotas being a bit short, I've already got it under control." Bernard scowled, crossing his arms. "Apparently, some of the elves down in packaging decided to take a few 'unauthorized breaks'. It won't be happening again."

"No, this isn't about quotas either." Santa looked up at his elves, serious for once. Scott wasn't deathly serious very often. Generally speaking, it wasn't a good sign—not _at all._ "Whatever the issue with the quotas is, we'll pull through. We always do. No, what I have to discuss with you two is a bit less routine than all that."

"Go on," Bernard prompted, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach.

Scott sighed and picked up and envelope from his desk. "I received this letter in this morning's Santa Post. I think for understanding's sake you'd both better have a read."

"A bit early for writing to Santa…it's only August." Hesitantly Bernard reached out and took it, tilting it to allow a single sheet of notebook paper to slide out into his hand.

_Dear Santa,_ it read,

_I'm not sure if I should be writing to you, since technically I don't believe in Santa Claus. I know that St. Nicholas is real, and he visits my house every year on December 19th. At least I think so. But then I thought maybe you were the one delivering for him nowadays, so I decided to write you anyway. I don't know for certain what the truth is, but I need some help._

_My daddy is very sick, Santa. I'm scared. He has cancer, and every time he seems to be getting better Dr. Calvin gives us bad news that something else has gone wrong. They don't say so, not to me, but I think the grownups expect him to die. My sister Ellington is scared too, but she doesn't talk about it. She likes to be strong, so I don't feel so afraid. She's seventeen and really smart. She would be in college by now if Daddy wasn't sick all this time. I just wish she had someone to talk to about everything, cause she doesn't really have any friends, besides me. There just isn't time, with how many chores we have to do and how busy we are. Could you find her a friend, for Christmas? If you could, it would mean a lot to us both._

_My family needs a miracle. I'm asking God for one already but I thought it would be good to ask for all the help I can get. Santa, if you can do anything, please, let my Daddy live. I'm not sure if I've been good all year or not, but I won't ask for anything else, I promise._

_Thank you._

_Sincerely,_

_Annise Connelly_

Bernard looked up over the edge of the paper, speechless. He found Santa watching him with tears in his eyes and smiling sadly.

"That's…remarkable," Bernard said quietly. He cleared his throat and passed the letter and its envelope to Curtis. "You don't always see that kind of selflessness in kids these days."

"My thoughts exactly." Santa leaned back and laced his fingers on his stomach thoughtfully. Curtis was reading the letter, dabbing at his eyes with a red kerchief. "I was even more surprised when my father called me out of the blue, about these _same children._ "

"How does he know them?" Bernard asked hesitantly, confused.

"He's the doctor treating their father, apparently."

"Dr. Calvin, right."

Curtis leaned far forward and passed the letter back to Scott, then proceeded to loudly blow his nose. This garnered yet another roll of the eyes from Bernard's quarters. "And he seconded what the girl said. Their father _is_ on his deathbed, and won't live to see the spring."

"That's…terrible," Curtis said.

"But I don't see what we can do about it."

"That's a cold thing to say, Bernard."

Bernard tilted his head. "Santa, you know that I would like every child to have his or her Christmas wish."

"Yeah, sometimes I wonder if you only feel that way out of obligation…" Scott muttered. Bernard ignored him.

"But you and I both know that granting prolonged life is outside of Santa's abilities. It belongs in the hands of Mother Nature, Father Time…and several other magical sprites that don't have seats on the Council but are nevertheless very powerful. Life is one of the only gifts you are unable to give."

"What about when people ask for babies?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

"Really Santa, you've been in the suit for almost fifteen years. You don't know this stuff by now? Those requests are contracted out to the Stork. And besides, most humans can take care of that on their own." Curtis, rather inappropriately, broke down into giggles. With a frown, Bernard scowled and upslapped the younger elf.

"OW!"

Scott was too preoccupied to notice. "Then it's a good thing I noticed this earlier this week." He searched his desk for something, eventually holding up a section of the List.

"Naughty or Nice?"

"Nice, obviously!" Santa found himself having to refrain from glaring at Bernard. "I thought it would be a good idea to at least check to make sure before I got involved. Sure enough, this is the listing for the Connelly children."

"There are only two children under Connelly on this List," Curtis noted.

"Precisely. Dottie Connelly _is_ on the Naughty List. She also doesn't live with her siblings, but with her birth mother in Seattle. The other two live with their father and mother in Hawaii."

"Interesting family dynamic." Bernard didn't know why he was being so cynical, but it was coming to him naturally just then and he didn't feel much like checking it.

"Note the mark next to the names." A golden embossed stamp was next to each of the girls' names: a swirling SC and a half crescent of words and numbers.

" _Ref 9274."_ Bernard said aloud. Instantly Curtis was bouncing in his chair.

"Ooh ooh! That's a reference to the Handbook." In a flash he had said book spread out on his lap, turning it to the appropriate page and adopting his serious reading voice. "'Reference 9274: the _Emissary Clause_."

"Exactly. Another _Clause._ Which is why I'd like to know why it wasn't brought to my attention before. I thought there were only the three Clauses: Santa, Missus, and Escape," Scott went on, turning through the pages of his own abbreviated copy of the _Handbook_ that he kept for casual usage. "Now there's the _Emissary Clause?_ "

Bernard sighed a long loud sigh, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. Already he could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Santa, there are quite a few Clauses, alright? They only come into play at certain times, which is the only time you, as Santa, need to worry about them. Besides, truly memorizing _everything_ you need to know would take you several centuries—and just look at how Curtis turned out, trying to learn it all."

Curtis beamed for a confused moment before turning to his superior with an angry glare. Bernard, as per usual, paid him no mind.

"Well _I_ haven't even seen this Clause yet, _for your information,"_ Curtis said sharply, pushing up his glasses with the pad of his finger. "It seems to have been Deadlocked…I couldn't have opened it even if I wanted to. So there."

"Deadlocked?" Scott's face was wrinkled in confusion.

"A deadlock is a particular type of seal, that involves magic and a set amount of time," Curtis offered up helpfully. "It's usually in Father Time's domain to set such seals, and he does so on a strict case-by-case basis. Whatever this Clause is about, it must be really important."

"' _Every 550 years, an emissary must be chosen from among humans to visit the North Pole, be they lonely or without cheer_ ,'" Scott read aloud musingly. "' _All emissaries must be under the age of eighteen. All emissaries must be female. This practice must be observed every 550th year, with the exception of postponements. Such postponements may be made only by Santa or the Head Elf._ '" He looked up, confused. "Well those are _very_ specific instructions. You alright there, Bernard?"

"What? Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Bernard shrugged lightly, but his careless laugh was a little too high pitched. He seemed more than a bit uncomfortable with the situation—at least so Scott thought. His Head Elf was beginning to glance at the door every few seconds, and the looks in his eyes could almost be labeled as panic.

"Hmmm." Scott obviously wasn't convinced, but decided to let the matter drop. "So. Would somebody like to explain to me why this Clause says every 550 years, yet was, what do you call it…"

"Deadlocked," Curtis supplied.

"…Deadlocked, right. Why would it say 'an Emissary must be chosen every 550 years' if the Clause couldn't even be viewed until now?"

"Because it was…" Bernard's sentence trailed off into muttering.

"Something you'd like to share with the class, Bernard?"

"Because it was supposed to accumulate," Bernard repeated, staring across the table at Scott irritably. "That's the only _logical_ reason, right? The only _logical_ reason why it seems that it was almost _waiting_ for these three girls, even though one is on the Naughty list?"

"True. Okay, we'll go with that. I like it. 'Supposed to accumulate'." Scott looked down at his book again. "Here in my copy it says to refer to the Unabridged Volume for further information. Curtis, what do you got?"

"Well, it's…" Curtis frowned, trying to unstick a pair of pages. After several unsuccessful attempts, he gave up. "It seems that the rest of the pages are still Deadlocked, sir."

"Until when?"

"It doesn't say."

Scott leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I'm not really sure if that simplifies things or complicates them at this point."

"What do you need us to do, Santa?" Bernard was clearly getting impatient now, as attested to by the fact that he was checking his watch, the wall clock, and the clock tower across the courtyard through Santa's balcony doors. "It may only be August but we're still on a schedule here."

"Oh come _on_ , Bernard, don't be so soulless!" Scott gave his Head Elf an equally irritable stare. "These girls are, by some strange chance, our responsibility this holiday season—which means that _you_ are going to be directly involved."

"Oh no."

Oh _yes._ See it says here in the Clause that the Head Elf is to be one of the supervising ah…what did it say? Chaperones. Rather applicable, really."

Bernard sputtered in indignation. "But Santa. You know I don't have _time_ for—"

"Ah ah ah!" Scott wagged a finger at him. "You of all people know that there is _no arguing_ with a Clause, Number One."

"Really? Number one? I'm your only head elf."

"As per your request, but if you ask me, the stress isn't doing wonders for your mood," Scott retorted.

Bernard scowled furiously down at the floor, eyes hidden beneath his hair and hat. Curtis was rather inappropriately grinning. It wasn't often he got to see Bernard put in his place by Santa himself, when usually it was the other way around.

"So here's what we're going to do," Scott announced decisively, taking charge of the situation. "It will take me a while to convene a Council of Legendary Figures to deal with the issue of their father's health—I'll also need to speak with my father about his case. In the meantime, the girls will fulfill the Emissary Clause for us. What were their names again?"

"Ellington, Dorothy and Annise," said Bernard, surprising both Santa and Curtis. He looked up, clearly annoyed. "What, am I the only one here graced with functioning short term memory?"

"Easy, mister."

"Or should I also overlook the fact that we have _no_ idea what to do with _that,"_ said Bernard, and pointed to a large map on the wall. Not surprisingly, it was a map of the North Pole. But the map, although made of paper, moved. It was enchanted, of course, and the map kept track of many pathways and things. But the most notable development of late was that the boundaries of the Pole had turned a menacing shade of black, as an Unknown lurked on the horizon in a voluminous, undulating darkness.

"We don't even know what it is!" Bernard threw up his hands. "It's been a month, and we've made no progress!"

"No, we don't," Santa admitted, quietly but firmly. "Which is yet another reason why we should convene the Council. This kind of thing usually doesn't just go away on its own; I think we've wasted far too long waiting for that to happen already. No, something needs to be done." He sighed. "And the way I look at it, the more loose ends we finish off we might just be more likely to make it go away."

Santa snatched up the letter again. "I need three Chaperones, one for each girl. Bernard is obviously getting one—"

"I have _work_ to do!" Bernard said, frusterated. "In case you've forgotten, I manage this place. I've got too much to do already, without having to drag some little girl around sightseeing."

"Which is why I'm giving you the eldest to deal with," Scott replied, pointedly level. "Ellington is seventeen, which is plenty old enough to behave herself. She won't need entertaining. Honestly Bernard, it'll be easier than you think. You'll have to make sure she doesn't post a bunch of photos online, but besides that teenagers are pretty self-maintaining. It should be smooth sailing after the first few days."

"This is a terrible mistake," Bernard gritted out, crossing his arms more tightly and clenching his jaw as if holding back a stream of arguments and possible insults.

Santa ignored him. "How do you feel, Curtis, about playing chaperone to our letter writer? Ten year old Annise?"

Curtis shifted in his seat. "Well, I'm...not very good around girls, but...I'll try. After all, asking for her father's health for Christmas is a very noble thing to do." His voice had gradually grown stronger and more excited. "Yeah, sure I'll do it. She seems like a nice little girl."

Santa smiled. "Good then. Now I've just got to find a chaperone for Dorothy, and we're set."

"Set for what?"

"Their arrival, of course!" With a few merry chuckles Scott got up from his desk, apparently very pleased with himself.

"I thought they were coming for the holidays, sir," Curtis asked, casting worried sideways glances at Bernard, who was now making strange strangled noises in this throat while trying not to burst out shouting.

"No, they're coming _now. Now_ is when the need has arisen, _now_ is when the Clause had revealed itself." After a pause he added, "They'll stay until Christmas, of course."

"That's _five months,"_ Bernard said, slowly.

"Yes, Bernard. It _is_ five months. Thanks for the help, but I can count on my own."

"How are you going to take them from their family—from their _sick unto death father_ –for _five months?!"_

"I have my ways," Scott said vaguely. Bernard rolled his eyes and huffed at this non-answer. "Now: in the meantime, I suggest you two start preparations for their arrival. They'll need rooms for sure, and clothes—it's much colder up here than in Hawaii and they won't exactly have time to pack. Get Abby to help you with that. I've spoken with Carol, and she's already agreed to help with getting them settled in. Hopefully they won't have trouble adjusting to the idea of living in the North Pole for a while, because that would definitely complicate things." With a sigh he rose, his chair creaking in relief. "I'm glad we've gotten this settled, guys. Thank you."

Bernard and Curtis had gotten to their feet before him, one decidedly more graceful than the other. Already a deep-set frown was set on Bernard's face, his mind retreating to a thoughtful, irritated place. "How long do we have?" he asked, his voice flat and unenthusiastic.

As much as Scott was aware of Bernard's usual sarcastic state of existence, he knew that his Head Elf had a soft spot for children. Normally, his stubborn behavior came from disagreeing with adults more than anything, so Santa was very much confused by the general lack of excitement—or even just resolve or preparedness—from Bernard's quarter. Already Curtis had squared his shoulders, a gleam of enthusiasm in his eye at the events ahead.

"About twelve hours," said Santa slowly, turning away from Bernard and trying to stuff down his worries. "There's a time difference between us and Hawaii. ELFS prefers nighttime pickups, if I remember correctly, so that will be around nine o'clock their time. And, since Seattle is three hours ahead of them, it'll be midnight there. I think that's the most workable time-frame."

"I'll let them know." Bernard began walking out of the room, eyes on the floor as he submerged into his own thought process. Thinking who knew what, Scott mused ruefully. Sometimes—no, _often_ he wished Bernard were more communicative. Times like these it would make things that much easier.

"They've already been told—Bernard!" The elf paused mid-stride and turned, eyebrows raised. "What is the matter with you? It's not normal to be this detached, even for _you._ What is going _on_?"

Bernard stared into a vacant space midair for a long moment, as if lost. Then his head snapped up, and he gave Santa a small, forced smile.

"Nothing, sir. I can personally assure you that all the necessary arrangements will be made." With a tight nod and a tighter pivot of his heel, Bernard left the room, eyes already back on the ground.

Santa and Curtis stood together in a stunned silence for a moment. "What was in his cocoa this morning?" Scott muttered eventually.

Curtis seemed genuinely taken aback. "I don't think it was his cocoa—he was fine before this," he told his boss. "Something about this whole situation has affected him, and I'm not sure I even want to know why." The blond elf looked vaguely horrified at the idea.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Bernard's emotions that frightening?"

"No," Curtis replied with a shudder. "But when he gets into a bad mood, you and I both know that's another story."


	2. Chapter 2

_2._

Bernard sighed, staring at the object on his desk with his fingers laced thoughtfully in front of him. It had taken every minute of twelve hours to prepare for the girls' arrival. By now the rooms were prepared, the necessary exceptions made and the elves briefed on _why_ they were having three human girls come to stay in the Workshop for over four months.

Not that stranger things hadn't happened before. After all, Santa's in-laws had come to visit several years in a row by now, and the elves seemed to almost like having the humans around. Luckily, neither Bud and Sylvia nor Scott's ex-wife Laura and her husband Neil with their daughter Lucy were expected North this year, giving a slight boon in the already overwhelming situation. Overwhelming for Bernard, anyway.

"The Emissary Clause is _very_ important," Bernard had said, wearing an upbeat expression he usually reserved for these type of speeches nowadays. "It ensures that the true Spirit of Christmas endures in the world. Over the next few months, we will have the chance to share what Christmas _really_ means with these three girls. So please, let's give them a warm welcome during their stay, okay? Okay, thank you everybody. Back to work, please."

Maybe this Clause was an innocent thing, really made to improve the lives of these girls and instill a fresh sense of Christmas Spirit in a world growing cold. But the timing, unfortunately, couldn't be worse. As he'd mentioned to Scott, there was a storm that had been plaguing the mountains around Elfsburg for months, making it unsafe to travel beyond the town limits. And if that wasn't stressful enough, there were his own _personal_ challenges.

Seventeen years ago Bernard had entered his office to find a small, red velvet box on his desk. At first, he'd thought it was Quentin trying to prank him again. Quentin was head of the Research and Development department, and more than that, a friend—one of a small, select few. So the box just seemed like a tart statement about Bernard's personal life…that is, until he noticed the golden _SC_ embossed onto its lid.

However, the box had been shut tightly, completely unable to open in spite of Bernard's efforts. So he'd stuffed it into one of his desk drawers, and gone to tell Quentin not to take it quite so far next time. The only thing was, Quentin had no idea what he was talking about. _Curtis_ had no idea what he was talking about, and no one else was able to just sneak into his office and leave things on his desk; it was for his private use _only_. For the first few months afterward he had taken it out from time to time, smoothing the red velvet and the golden filigree with the pads of his fingers, just wondering; _dreading. What did it mean? Where had it come from? Was it a gift, or a statement, or a warning?_ After a year he'd left it to acquire dust with a great deal of confusion and unanswered questions.

Then, sometime around a year and a half ago, the tiny box had somehow reappeared from the depths of his file drawer, sitting on his desk like a foreboding. This time when he put it away, it reappeared several hours later on his desktop. It kept happening: no matter where he moved it –even clear across the Workshop as a test once—it always came back to rest on his desk, next to the neatly stacked paperwork that routinely cycled out.

The funny thing was, no one mentioned the box on his desk. Clearly it was a ring box, but not Abby, nor Judy or Curtis or even Santa or Carol noticed it. Even Charlie hadn't mentioned or even looked at it when he'd come up for a quick post-Easter visit earlier that year, and he'd done some of his college homework on the desk (with Bernard's permission of course.) It was as if it was invisible to all but Bernard's eyes, or didn't exist at all.

And now the _Emissary Clause_ had at long last surfaced, as if another piece of the puzzle. It probably was and Bernard knew it, which was why he was _not_ looking forward to whenever those deadlocked pages revealed themselves. It was, of course, the only Clause not directly pertaining to Santa himself, which made it odd enough. Why was it a _Clause_ if it didn't have to do with getting out of anything? The idea didn't make any sense, and it concerned him. While Scott may have been more than happy to accommodate the newfound rule, Bernard was skeptical. Something wasn't adding up, and he had a nagging feeling he wasn't going to like finding out _what._

In the meanwhile, amidst all the bustle of preparations and the excitement of having guests, he found himself drawn again to the idea that this all felt like a part of a greater plan, and he was being moved around like a pawn. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, and it had begun to bother him so much that he'd gone off to clear his head for a few moments. That's what had brought him to his desk, staring at the object that he most wished he could get rid of. He'd tried throwing it in the fireplace, but it wouldn't burn and eventually replaced itself on his desk. Whatever was going on, he couldn't escape it, and that only made him more frustrated and ornery.

Eventually he'd been forced to leave the sanctuary of his office and rejoin the party, finding Santa and the rest of the welcome group in the stables. He'd tried to force a good mood for the sake of the situation but found himself coming up considerably lacking in the cheer department-which was a regrettable thing for an elf to have to admit. But fortunately he was soon distracted from his own problems by work, and _that_ was something to be grateful for.

To his surprise, Santa had asked his eldest son Charlie to stand in as Dorothy's chaperone. Charlie had agreed to this with ease, as he knew as much about the Pole as anybody could and certainly knew how to bring a skeptic around. It was a decision Bernard was comfortable with, actually, because Charlie was an adult and well equipped to handle a wayward Naughty Lister if he needed to-not to mention, he had experience with modern teenage girls from his younger sister Lucy. The elf almost envied that advantage, since no doubt he'd be hard pressed to control his own charge. He didn't exactly have high expectations of these children, to say the least.

The rest of the welcome group consisted of Mrs. Claus-who was determined to be there in spite of the early hour, Curtis-who _needed_ to be there, and Abby, one of the high tier cocoa elves. He had asked her to be there in case the girls had need of anything they hadn't thought of, so that she could pass the information onto the rest of the housekeeping staff if necessary.

Thankfully, the rest of the group seemed to make up for Bernard's lack of a good mood with their enthusiasm. Mrs. Claus was practically buzzing with excitement, locked in a cheerful conversation with her step-son. He was about to check and make sure that Santa was okay with the preparations they'd made when a short somebody came barreling into the room at full tilt, running smack into him.

"I'm here, I'm here! I'm not _late_ , am I-oof!" A shock of blond hair collided with Bernard's stomach face first, and the elf instinctively grabbed for the person in spite of his winded state. A moment later arms wound around his waist turning the accident into a hug, and Bernard found himself smiling regardless of his mood.

"Goof morfning, Bernarf," came a muffled greeting, and Bernard tousled the unruly head of hair with an involuntary grin.

"Morning, sport junior. It's a little early for you to be up, isn't it?"

Seven year old Buddy Claus looked up, blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "Well yeah, today's a Saturday and I should get to sleep in. But mom told me that some kids are coming to visit and I was so excited I could hardly sleep all night! I didn't miss them, did I?"

"Not by a long shot," Scott replied, coming up behind them. Buddy's attention immediately shifted and next moment he was hugging his father. "It's not every day we get kids up here, is it?"

"Only when cousin Lucy comes to visit, but that's only...once or twice a year?"

"Mhmm. Should be fun!"

"This is going to be lovely Scott," Mrs. Claus agreed, coming over and accepting the next giant hug. She smiled happily, kissing her son's head. "One of the girls at least is around Buddy's age, maybe they'll have some things in common!"

"Maybe she can come to to school with me," Buddy added, his eyes growing big at the thought. Buddy attended the Elfementary School where his mother taught, and the idea of having a classmate who was his own age was an exciting one.

"That's a great idea, if she wants to. You'll have to ask and find out." With his dad's approval Buddy nodded happily, content for the time being.

By now everyone had formed a sort of half circle awaiting news from Curtis, who was in direct contact with the ELFS team in surveillance. Abby was holding three small keys in her hands, smiling excitedly. It wasn't often anymore that she came to help in the Workshop, since a lot of her work was done with Judy at the Elfsburg Grille nowadays. It was even more rare for human children—especially _girls_ —to visit the Pole, with Scott's niece Lucy being the obvious exception.

"Are you ready?" Bernard asked Curtis, glancing at him sideways as he stood rigid, hands behind his back. He had gone out on a limb and let him have control of the coms, which wasn't a privilege he'd been afforded in a good few years.

"I hope so," Curtis replied, almost humbly for once. He looked up at his superior. "What about you?"

"What about me," Bernard replied stiffly, his eyes set expectantly ahead of him.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay with this? I mean, you haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine since Santa told us what was going on."

"I don't have a choice," Bernard replied, his jaw twitching slightly. "I'll either be okay with it, or add a little liquor to my cocoa at the end of the day and cope. Either way, the job gets done." He softened after a moment. "Besides, how bad can it be? Two out of three on the Nice List isn't half bad."

Curtis sighed worriedly. He had to admit, Bernard always made things work—but sometimes, he made it pretty hellish for everyone around him in the process.

* * *

Meanwhile, none of the Connelly sisters could have known what Annise's letter was bringing about.

Annise herself had almost let the letter fade from her mind, too focused on real life and the trials she and her family were facing. After all, the farm wouldn't run itself, and with their parents mainly stuck at the hospital, that burden fell to her and Ellington.

Granted, the girls did make a good team. Together, the daily chores were done with relative ease—considering that they were doing a lot of the jobs their father had done prior to his illness. The days passed in busy monotony. Annise had schoolwork and Ellington often helped her mother with her healthcare as her mother helped her father with his. Annise and her mother went grocery shopping, came home, and Ellington made dinner. The days blurred together in an unhappy, worried haze, and they all felt trapped by their unfortunate situation.

It seemed for a long period of time that nothing good happened. On one particular night that their father was exceptionally struggling with his health, Ellington and Annise were home alone. They had retreated to Ellington's room in strained silence, the older sister wishing she had something comforting to say to Annise. But given the overall condition of things, there just didn't seem to be any comfort left to give.

"He's being well taken care of," she offered, though it was only a small consolation. Annise nodded silently, crawling over the bed to pull their cat into her arms. "Mom too. You know how nice the hospital staff is."

"I know," Annise said quietly, staring at the wall in what appeared to be an effort not to cry. "Would it be okay if I…could I watch a movie?"

Ellington viewed her sister for a moment, heart aching. She knew that Annise didn't want to be hugged, or told things would be alright. They both knew at this point that things _weren't_ going to be alright. It was easier to bury themselves in something else, distract their minds for a while from all of the carnage around them. Ellington understood; she'd been doing _that_ for a long time. But she wished that she could make things happy again, like she'd used to do for Annise when they were younger. It seemed to Ellington that she just couldn't fix anything anymore—not anything that truly mattered.

"Sure," she replied, and gave her sister her laptop. With a faint smile of appreciation Annise put on a movie and her headphones, tuning out the world with other, more enjoyable noise. Ellington tried reading for a while, but a restless, dissatisfied feeling was keeping her from focusing. It was a truly bad thing when _The Lord of the Rings_ failed to keep her attention.

In frustration she rose from her bed with a sigh, waving in a reassuring way at Annise who had immediately looked concerned. 'Going outside' Ellington mouthed, pointing out the window. Annise nodded in understanding and went back to her film.

The stars as seen from rural Hawaii Island were beautiful, and one of her favorite things about living in the Aloha state—but Ellington missed the city. She missed Seattle and the bustle of cold mornings, the rush of going places early in the day before the rest of the world was up. In Hawaii there was no need for early mornings—not even in the country, and especially not on a farm as small as theirs. There was no rush to go anywhere, and sometimes the lack of excitement made her feel like she would go out of her mind with boredom.

Tonight was not one of those nights, though. Tonight she was outside, in the somewhat surprisingly chilly air, staring up at the brilliant blanket of tiny lights above her. There must have been a northern wind, blowing off of the rather early snow on Mauna Kea, she thought as she pulled her hoodie up over her head. But the Milky Way was visible as well, which made the scene well worth the slight chill.

As she watched the different constellations twinkle at her in the darkness, two bright red stars in the North sky caught her attention. They were fluctuating rapidly, and for a moment Ellington thought they were the lights on the wings of an airplane. Then she thought they were shooting stars, as she considered that they were actually moving too quickly to be an airplane.

She only really started panicking when they were almost directly above her, and appeared to be slowing down. Thought quite far up it was obvious that the lights were coming to an abrupt and unexplained halt. Ellington was just getting ready to bolt for the house when an unexpected sense of ease washed over her, as if there were nothing to be afraid of—or maybe, she considered, that her fears had been taken away.

She watched them descend, slowly hovering downward with a faintly mechanical whirr, only "they" weren't just lights. "They" were people—short people, but people nevertheless. And, Ellington noted, people that looked surprisingly _human._

It appeared to be a teenage girl and a slightly younger boy. It became apparent in the beam of Ellington's now glowing flashlight that they both wore strange green uniforms, with boots and some sort of strange apparatus covered sporadically with flashing lights strapped to their backs.

"Hello," said the girl, surprisingly calmly. She pressed a few buttons on a wristband and landed on the harsh ground that comprised the main yard. The boy mirrored her actions, landing beside her and giving a bit of a test jump.

"Interesting terrain," he commented, typing something into _his_ wristband as well. Then he fanned himself with his hat. "Geez it's hot here."

"Lava rocks," Ellington supplied, a bit hesitantly. "And it's fifty degrees."

"Exactly! How can you people stand this kind of heat?"

"'You people'? _You're_ the ones who just dropped out of the sky." She wondered why she didn't feel like running or yelling—after all, these two kids had just descended from the sky and were now talking to her. She had every right to be freaking out, but she wasn't. This was almost alarming on its own. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mackenzie," the girl told her, and gestured to her side. "And this is Kyle. Are you by any chance Ellington Connelly?"

Ellington didn't even consider replying falsely—or not replying at all, as would have been the obvious and sane choice. These people felt trustworthy, in spite of how crazy the situation was. "Well, I…yes. Yes, why do you ask?"

"Miss Connelly, Kyle and I have been sent to reply to a letter your sister sent to our employer," the girl—that is, Mackenzie explained.

"Your 'employer'," Ellington repeated skeptically. "Sounds shady. And who would that be?"

Mackenzie's response was baffling, not just in context but in the confidence and surety of her tone. "Santa Claus," she replied, not the slightest touch of humor in her voice. It was the gravity with which it was said that struck Ellington the most. For a joke it wasn't really that funny, but the straight faces? That _must_ have been difficult.

"Very funny," Ellington said, giving the girl a sideways look. "No really."

"No really yourself," Mackenzie retorted levelly. "I have the letter to prove it. Look." She took out a worn envelope from her inside jacket pocket and passed it to Ellington.

It really _was_ the letter.

Ellington stared at her younger sister's handwriting, baffled. "How did you get this?" she asked, face twisted in confusion. "Annise gave this to—"

"Doctor Calvin," Mackenzie finished, "who happens to be related to Santa."

"Oh? How?"

"He's his father."

Ellington laughed out loud. "Doctor Calvin, Santa Claus' father?" She paused, suddenly growing solemn and nodding as if in understanding. "Actually, I can believe that. He is a _really_ nice person. _Abnormally_ nice, and the weirdest thing is that it's genuine." She thought a moment, and then gazed at Mackenzie with wide eyes. "That look he had," she said, "that look he gave Annise when she asked him to mail the letter. He looked so…."

"Knowing?"

"Yeah," Ellington realized. "Like he had some sort of trick up his sleeve that was going to be spectacular."

"Well, he did," Kyle said, speaking up at long last. Mackenzie was obviously in charge, so perhaps it wasn't his job to speak as much as it was hers. "Your sister's letter has brought something to Santa's attention."

"Something important," Mackenzie continued, before Ellington could ask what. "Something Santa himself would like to tell you and your sister…" She looked around the yard, almost as if expecting Annise to pop out from somewhere. "Where is your sister?"

"Well she's not hiding behind the compost bins," Ellington said with a cynical laugh. "She's inside the house. But I don't see Santa here."

"He was unable to come," Kyle offered.

"What are you trying to say? He wants to tell us something but he isn't able to come to tell us, and you can't tell us...OH." Ellington drew back a little in realization. "Oh, you want us to _come with you?"_

"To the Pole, yes," Mackenzie said. "Santa's orders, under designation of the Emissary Clause."

"And what does this "Clause" have to do with me and my sister, exactly?"

"Sister _s._ Dorothy is invited too, apparently."

"Oh really? That's a shocker. I don't think she's believed in Santa since she was eight."

"Well, I didn't make the plans." Mackenzie gave her a firm look. "Besides, it's never too late for someone to make a turnaround."

"True, but she doesn't even _talk_ to us anymore. Have you considered she might _not_ want to see us?"

"That's really a question I should leave for the Big Guy to answer."

"So that's it then." Ellington looked deadpan. "You expect me to just say 'take me to your leader' with no questions asked?"

"That would be ideal, yeah."

"No dice. You just _jetpacked_ into my yard - you know what? I must be dreaming. This is just a really weird, outlandish dream and I'm going to wake up, _now._ Ow!" The 'ow' came from a hard pinch that did _not_ serve to wake Ellington up, since she was _quite_ awake.

Mackenzie and Kyle exchanged a look, and for the first time she noticed their pointed _ears._

"Is this some kind of horrible joke? I mean, I'll hand it to you, you put in the effort. Those ears are better than any cosplay stick-ons I've seen, and I've done my fair share of research."

"No, we're not joking, and the ears are real. They came with the job." Mackenzie nudged Kyle forward. "Kyle, show her your ears."

"What? No!" Kyle tugged his baseball cap down further over his ears, the ELFS shining in the flashlight's glow.

"Hey, don't stress it," Ellington said, waving off the obviously uncomfortable… _person. "_ Don't want to ruin the magic, or anything." She hesitated a long moment before throwing her hands up with a sigh. "Oh, what the hell," she laughed. " If this is a dream I'll wake up when it's over, and if it's not, then this is ridiculous enough to make for an incredible story. Or a creepy one. Best to keep my mind wide open."

Mackenzie looked surprised. "You'll come with us then?"

"Like I said, why not? I don't have anything better to do and today's been a bad enough day as it is. I'll go get Annise." Still chuckling slightly to herself, Ellington put her hands in her jacket pockets and crossed the yard, heading into the house to find her sister. "Don't go anywhere! Last thing I need is to look crazy and have you two disappear. I'll be right back."

"Well, that was unexpected." Mackenzie seemed taken aback by the sudden change of mind.

"Humans," Kyle said simply, as if this explained everything. Mackenzie nodded in agreement.

Ellington made her way up the stairs to their bedroom, wondering how to explain this whole thing to Annise. She stood in the doorway, speechless, as Annise looked up from her movie.

The younger girl took off her headphones immediately, looking up at her sister in alarm. "What's the matter, what's wrong. Did mom call…"

"No. NO!" Ellington shook her head vigorously. "No, um…well…"

"Are you okay?" Annise was gazing at her in confusion. "You look like you've seen something weird."

"Understatement," Ellington laughed, rubbing her face. "Aw man. I'm going to sound nuts, but there are two elves here to see us."

After a long pause, Annise frowned. "Ellington, that's not funny. Just because I wrote a letter to Santa doesn't mean you need to poke fun at me!" She crossed her arms, injured, as the cat looked startled, then curled up more tightly in her lap.

"No, Annise, that's not what I'm trying to do here. Look!" The letter was held up, its worn edges soft in Ellington's hands.

"Where did you get that?!" Annise snatched it, dumping the cat out of her lap in the process. "I gave this to Doctor Calvin."

"Who is apparently Santa's father," Ellington said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, I know. Don't look at me like I'm insane, I'm just repeating what the elves told me."

"What elves?" It was then that the beeping noises from the elves' packs became audible. Faint voices also crept in through the farm house's thin walls.

"What the…" Annise tensed. "Strangers? Ellington, we're not supposed to talk to strangers, come on!"

"They fell out of the sky! Or, levitated downwards, I dunno!"

"Seriously?"

It took her five more minutes of convincing and three more minutes of shutting down the house before the girls stepped outside. Ellington's slight fear that the "elves" would be gone was assuaged when she saw both Mackenzie and Kyle still standing in the yard, a few paces from the chicken coop in fact. They waved at her in the half light of what appeared to be headlamps.

"Annise Connelly?" Mackenzie asked, a small smile on her face. "Nice to meet you."

At once, Annise's eyes had gone wide as saucers. "Els, is this for real?" she asked quietly, grabbing onto her older sister's sleeve in a half panic.

"As far as I can tell," Ellington replied trying not to smile from the excitement that was beginning to take her. She reached into her pocket and gave the letter to Annise. "They came with this."

Annise stared at the envelope, then out at the newcomers. "Holy cow," she exclaimed, running down off of the steps before the front door. "They really _are_ elves!"

"Not the Middle-earth kind!" Ellington called after her, turning to lock the door while muttering, " _Unfortunately_ in my case _,_ because I have a _lot_ of questions about the relationship between Legolas and Gimli."

She was still excited though. And in a part of her mind that was pleasantly subconscious (and could probably therefore be trusted) she even started to think that maybe, just maybe, this was a way of things "looking up".

But then, she really didn't want to test her luck just yet. Sure, a pair of elves from the North Pole _had_ just jetpacked their way to Hawaii to pick up two random girls and probably some others to their sister in Seattle, but that could mean anything, right? Better to be hesitantly reserved about the whole thing, since apparently, Santa had some sort of business-y need of them. But what did that mean, exactly?

Ellington didn't know. Mackenzie took out two blinking devices and gave one to each girl, telling them to put it in their pockets as it would allow them to fly as well. "It's an added precaution, since we're flying over the ocean," she explained. "Normally we wouldn't need them."

Ellington nodded mutely, slightly horrified at the thought of flying unprotected over the Pacific Ocean for an extended period of time. Annise looked positively giddy though, which wasn't something that had happened in a long time. For that at least she was grateful.

With a lurch the group lifted off from the ground, Annise squealing slightly in surprise. The dogs sleeping in the yard didn't even look up, as if unable to even sense the presence of the elves, or what was happening before them.

They lifted up through the clear dark sky, the stars seeming to draw closer to them. Ellington tried to convince herself she was sleeping to avoid panicking. Whatever was going on, she figured, she was about to find out.

* * *

It was a surprisingly short ride to the North Pole. Once they had ascended over the cloud cover (where the temperature dipped considerably, much to Kyle's relief), they were really flying.

The entire trip seemed to only take about forty five minutes. Then the clouds thinned out, and Ellington could just see, in the light of the moon, the ice and cold looking ocean. And then it started to snow. Ellington, who was only wearing a sweatshirt and some jeans, was a little surprised that she wasn't freezing, but figured it was by some magic of the elves. Elves had magic, right? The snow felt soft and rather tickled, but it blew off of her so quickly that she hardly had time to feel anything at all.

Before long Mackenzie slowed their speed dramatically and pressed a glowing red and white button on her wristlet. Far below, a red and white glow responded. Mackenzie swerved and dipped, pulling Ellington down with her. Kyle and Annise weren't far behind.

When they had nearly reached the surface, Mackenzie reversed her jet pack. Hovering several yards above the ice, Ellington could now see that the red and white glowing object was the North Pole itself, easily distinguishable even in the poor light of the arctic.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it though, as Mackenzie soon pointed downward, where the ice was breaking open, floating downwards in the shape of a circle. Warmth floated up from below the ice. And as the circle disappeared, they went down after it.

As they descended through the ice, the first thing Ellington noticed was how warm it was. She had expected it to be colder, given the obviously arctic climate and the fact that outside _above_ the ground they were currently in the middle of polar night. But inside the dome it was a bright, brilliant blue, apparently midday or somewhere thereabout.

"Welcome to Elfsburg," Mackenzie told her, as they closed in on the town below. "It's 5:52 am North Pole Time, temperature 27 degrees Fahrenheit, slight wind from the southeast, light flurries on the outskirts of town." All of this information she seemed to have received from her wristband.

"It's beautiful," Ellington murmured, coughing as they flew through a particularly thick and chilly cloudbank.

"Are you seeing this?" Annise called over to her. She was grinning like mad, blonde hair whipping out of her braid and fluttering frantically in the wind. She also had her arms out at her sides like one of the Darling children from _Peter Pan._ Kyle appeared to have let go of her hand, and was looking rather impressed as he flew next to and a little behind her.

"Is that safe?!" Ellington almost yelped at Mackenzie. Annise was actually laughing now, as they all ducked down closer to the town. But Mackenzie was smiling too, a genuine smile.

"She's got enough faith to carry us all safely, I think. Let alone herself." Seeing Ellington's confused and uncomfortable expression she clarified. "Annise believes, Miss Connelly. And here at the Pole, that's actually enough to make a child fly—with elf supervision, of course."

Ellington looked over at her sister's happiness and felt something inside of her glowing. She was so caught up in the moment that she didn't even notice Mackenzie had dropped her own hand—and then, they were landing.

"Aim for that balcony, about halfway up that main building with the dome," Mackenzie instructed. Ellington only nodded silently, watching as Annise and Kyle landed first. They came to a halt by slowing down considerably, then thrusting feet first down towards the ground. It seemed a good way to do things (they weren't crashing,) so Ellington resolved to do the same.

Thirty seconds later she too was standing at the end of the balcony, ornate railings leading into what appeared to be some sort of stable. Annise was shaking hands with a boy around her own age, dressed in striped trousers with a kerchief around his neck. His glasses were slipping down his nose, and he pushed them up with his spare hand as he blushed furiously—almost _painfully_ red. Annise was too busy being thrilled with everything to notice.

Behind Annise and the boy there stood a small group of people in a semi-circle. Of course the first people to stand out were those decked in bright red: Santa, and Mrs. Claus. They looked surprisingly young, Ellington mused, but then, who knew how much of what humans knew about them was true anyway. There was also a little boy, who looked to be around Annise's age, hanging by his mother's side. He seemed very excited, but a little hesitant all the same. He seemed like a nice kid, which only made sense given where they were.

There were also two young men next to Mrs. Claus, both with dark hair and brown eyes. She didn't have time to find her bearings any more as Mackenzie had landed by now and was impatiently ushering her forwards.

Ellington felt oddly self-conscious, though, it probably didn't help that she was in a very new, supposedly very fictional place. She looked around at the others with wide eyes, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets again to avoid fidgeting. All of their clothes were so beautiful—with the exception of one of the boys, who was dressed like your average college student. It didn't really make her feel any better though, because she was embarrassed of her worn clothing and battered boots, embarrassed of the fact that she probably looked like hell warmed over from her "flight". Embarrassed of herself, and her story. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"Glad to see you two arrived in one piece," Santa said humorously, which earned a slightly disdainful look from Mackenzie. He shook Ellington's hand gently, smiling kindly. "Scott Calvin—but you might know me as Santa Claus. This is my wife, Carol." Mrs. Claus came up beside him, shaking Ellington's hand in turn. "And this kiddo here is our youngest, Buddy."

"Pleased to meet you," the woman said. There was a kind gleam in her eye, and a rosy blush on her cheek. It occurred to Ellington in a fit of despondent realization that it had been a long time since her mother had looked so happy, but she forced a smile onto her face regardless. The boy nodded, offering up a hand to her. She reached out and shook it carefully, surprised at how confident of a grip the kid had.

"I'll bet we're all going to be good friends," he said certainly, and despite her nervousness Ellington couldn't help but grin.

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" She gave the boy a wink and he grinned back at her, instantly becoming more comfortable. "It's lovely to meet you too, Buddy. And you, Mrs. Claus." She looked over at Santa, and found him addressing Annise, her sister's eyes bright with hope. Maybe this wasn't as suspicious as she'd thought it was, after all.

"I'm Annise, sir. Thank you for answering my letter. It's very nice to meet you."

"It's _very_ nice to meet you too, Annise," Santa replied, giving her a calming, reassuring smile. "I bet it was a bit much, the elves showing up like that to pick you up. I wanted to come and get you myself, but it's August and that's just too darn early for sleigh sightings."

"It _was_ a bit unbelievable," Annise admitted with a shy giggle.

He took her hand in both of his. "Annise, I know your family is having trouble with your dad's condition," he told her seriously. "But I want you to know that I have my best people on it, my friends. Together, we're going to see what we can do for your father. I'm sure we'll be able to come up with _something,_ okay?"

Annise nodded, her expression one of sobriety and hope at the same time. "Thank you. Thank you _very_ much, sir."

Ellington watched on with relief, arms crossed almost protectively over her chest. A smile rested on her lips, as she was genuinely amazed and impressed that her sister had somehow made this happen.

"Excuse me," said a voice to her right, and Ellington's attention shifted over to Charlie. "But you wouldn't happen to be Dorothy, would you?"

Ellington's smile dropped a notch. "No, sorry. She'll be here soon, I hope."

"So you must be—"

"Ellington," she finished, crossing her arms a little more tightly. Her general body language was stressed and protective. Her smile didn't drop though. It wasn't that she was trying to be unfriendly; she was just a little overwhelmed. "And you are?"

"Charlie. Charlie Calvin. I'm Buddy's big brother," he said with a little smile and shrug, and Ellington saw the clear sign of a proud older sibling. She couldn't help but smile at the kid, who was now talking animatedly with Abby.

Ellington connected the dots and finally pieced together who everyone was. "Oh…oh wow! Nice to meet you," she said to him, Charlie's grin spreading a little wider as she shook his hand. "He seems like a nice kid, must be a real blast to hang out with."

"He is. Though, growing up up here doesn't exactly give him a lot of friends his age. Elves, yes. Kids? Not so much. He's really excited about you all." Charlie took a look at her worried body language and gave her shoulder a little nudge. "I know this place seems…pretty overwhelming at first," he told her kindly. "But it's also really amazing. Don't let it make you feel out of place. You'll fit in in no time." He really genuinely wanted them to have fun and enjoy their stay, not spend it worrying—even considering their situation.

Ellington chuckled. "What gave it away?" she asked wryly, and crossed her arms again. But her expression was slightly more relaxed, somehow.

"Besides the fact you look as tense as Bernard the week before Christmas? Probably nothing but intuition," Charlie said with a laugh. He looked over at the elf, trying to catch his attention. "Hey, Bernard? This is Ellington."

"Good," was all Bernard said, observing her only briefly before turning back to watch the interaction between Santa and Annise in silence. Ellington's stomach dropped a little, a bit of her former discomfort coming back to her, but she smiled small at Charlie and tried to hide it.

Charlie looked confused. "Sorry, he's not usually like that." He didn't understand why Bernard was being so cold.

"No worries," Ellington murmured. "Probably just 'tense', right?" She merely turned her eyes back to Santa as he was explaining to Annise the concept of a 'chaperone', writing Bernard off without a second thought. He seemed like a bit of a jerk, frankly.

"So you see, Curtis will be the one to show you around and keep an eye on you during your stay," Scott told the girl. "Charlie will be your sister Dorothy's chaperone, and Bernard will look out for Ellington. Since Curtis and Bernard have work to do you two will need to stick with them any time you want to sightsee, but it'll be interesting to see how the Workshop functions. I'm sure they'll do an excellent job showing you both around."

"And when you're not with Bernard and Curtis, you can always hang out with me!" Buddy suggested. He and Annise seemed to have been introduced by then, his expression even more exuberant. "I go to school in town with the elves, so I'm there most afternoons. You should come sometime, it'd be swell! You know. For school and all. Mom's a fun teacher."

"That sounds nice," Annise admitted with a giggle, his enthusiasm catching. A vaguely confused expression crossed her face, and then she asked the question that had come to Ellington's mind as well. "But how long are we supposed to be here, exactly?"

"I thought the elves told you, before you agreed to come here." Santa looked to Mackenzie, who shrugged uncomfortably and withdrew from the Stable with Kyle hard on her heels.

"They told me you would tell us," Ellington replied, beginning to feel alarmed again. Why was Santa dancing around this? Was this the catch she'd been afraid of?

"Well that complicates things a little." Scott scratched worriedly at his beard before continuing. "Allow me to explain, as simply as I can. I'll need to talk with my fellow Legendary Figures, and it may take some time to get them together all in one place. They all have their own independent duties, you see, and since none of us exclusively have power over Life and Death it will take us some time to figure out the best mode of action. Until then, we'd like to open up our home to you girls, here at the Pole."

"What?" Annise asked breathlessly, stars in her eyes.

"We've taken the liberty of preparing some rooms for you," Mrs. Claus told them, a knowing gleam in her eyes. "I think you'll find them quite comfortable, if you decide to stay."

"Sorry to butt in," Ellington said abruptly, a bit perplexed, "and please don't think I'm ungrateful, but our parents think we're at home. They're in the _hospital_ right now, they need to know that we're safe."

"You can call them anytime you like, of course! We're not trying to isolate you, by any means. Family is the most important thing," Scott agreed, looking around at his own family fondly.

"How long is this for, exactly? It sounds like you're planning on keeping us overnight."

"Most kids would _want_ to spend the night at Santa's Workshop in the North Pole," Bernard muttered. Ellington turned to frown at him.

"I'm sorry, is there something you'd like to say?" She asked directly, clearly not willing to play games about the matter. When he didn't reply, she went on with conviction. "In case you weren't aware, I'm the one holding down the fort while my father is"—she edged around the word— "out of commission. If I don't take care of my responsibilities, I'm making things even more difficult on my parents, which they _can't_ afford. I'm not being difficult, I'm being practical."

"Hey." Ellington looked down to find her sister looking up, expression reassuring. "It's okay, Els." Annise's voice was calming and kind. "We're here to see if they can do anything for dad, remember? If this is how we need to do things to make that happen, then we _are_ helping. Just in a different way."

Ellington nodded hesitantly, before nodding and forcing a smile back onto her face. She squeezed Annise's hand in response. "That's a good point, kid." She sighed remorsefully before addressing the others. "I'm sorry for snapping, it was late where we're from and it was already a hard day before any of this happened. Not to mention, we weren't exactly expecting this. We really do appreciate everything, it's just… a _lot_ more than we were bargaining for."

"I'm sure it's quite a lot to take in," Carol agreed, with a sympathetic nod. "Even this place being _real_ is mind blowing—it certainly was for me, when I first came here. If you need time to adjust, we'll understand."

"I can see there's more to all of this than I realized," Scott said, stroking his beard. "I'm going to call my Dad, he's at home but he's got a shift in the morning. We'll see what we can come up with, as far as cover stories go."

"I'll do some thinking too," Ellington announced with a nod, much to the surprise of the others. "I know my parents, I know what they'll believe and not believe. If I think of anything, I'll tell you. The main thing is to find a way to keep my parents reassured that we're safe, and to find someone to take care of the livestock while we're away."

"Do you have any neighbors?"

"Not ones that know how to run farms. Not for miles. We're kind of trendsetters, you might say. We could fly back every day if we need to, but I'm not sure how much of an inconvenience that is for you…"

"I can send some of the stable crew to keep an eye on things," Bernard said, finally speaking up. "But wait, are you saying that you two are _willing_ to stay?"

"Well three of us when Dottie gets here, and I'm not entirely sure it's going to work. But yes. If helping our father is on the table, we'll stay as long as we need to—or as long as we can, at any rate." Ellington looked at Bernard, then away, as if already avoiding him.

"I'm Bernard," said Bernard with an acknowledging nod. He knew it was a little late to pretend to be cordial, but it was really the soonest he could force himself to do it.

"I know," Ellington replied with a slight nod. She didn't turn her attention back to him.

"I'm your chaperone?"

"I gathered."

Bernard rolled his eyes, about to catch her by the elbow and try to start over when Annise sneezed loudly.

"Oh I'd entirely forgotten," said Carol, jumping into action. "You aren't used to this cold, are you? And it's so chilly in the mornings." Buddy ran over before his mother made it, shucking off his sweater and putting it around Annise's shoulders.

"Any better?" He asked. "Uncle Neil gave me that sweater, it's super comfy and warm."

"Thanks," Annise replied, sounding surprised as she looked at the rather outlandish garment. "It's neat." She smiled, but ended up sneezing again.

Mrs. Claus offered a hand to the younger girl, and Ellington was shocked to find that she wasn't alarmed at the idea of her sister being so close to a stranger. These people all felt so nice and welcoming—well, with the exception of the tallest elf, but Bernard seemed to be an exception to the cheerful mood. "If you'd like," Carol explained, "Abby and I will show you to your rooms so you can at least get into some warmer clothes while we sort the rest of the details out."

"What about Dorothy?" asked Charlie. "Wasn't she supposed to be here around the same time? Maybe we should be worried. It's not like ELFS to be late."

Scott frowned. "Is there any reason they might be having a hard time finding her?"

Before Curtis could say anything, Ellington chimed in. "Dottie does bounce around a lot, it's possible she's spending the night with some other part of her family."

"As a matter of fact, I've just got a message saying she wasn't at her mom's house. I guess we'll have to try again tomorrow?" Curtis suggested, tucking the tablet under his arm.

Ellington nodded, a small amount of relief flooding over her. At least she had a little longer to prepare for that reunion. She wasn't sure she was ready to see Dorothy again, at _all._


	3. Chapter 3

_3._

"This is _amazing,_ " said Ellington, truly awestruck as she took in her new home away from home. Her room was papered in dark green and trimmed in dark wood, with stained glass windows set in deep hues of red, green, blue and purple. It was through this window that she was looking, noticing that there there was a stone balcony connected to her room that overlooked a wide courtyard below. Or was it a town square? It could have been both, for all she knew. She didn't know how big the town was.

"I haven't seen so much snow since…" She trailed off, grateful when Annise popped in the room before Carol could ask her to finish her sentence.

"Can you believe it's already morning here? We had hardly gone to bed at home! I saw a bunch of flying reindeer out of my window, too! It was awesome!"

"I think I could believe just about anything right now," Ellington replied distantly, staring at the mountains in the distance. She wondered why those heavy storm clouds didn't appear to be moving any closer. Perhaps they were always there, but she thought they looked a little too ominous for the cheerful Christmas atmosphere.

Carol sat down on the bed, patting for Annise to sit next to her. "Yes, well, the reindeer training team usually gets started pretty early in the morning, as do most of the elves. All of Elfsburg will be bustling within the next half hour."

"Elfsburg?" Ellington asked.

"Uh huh. You see, the Pole is situated on top of an enormous iceberg, so I guess you could call it a pun, if you like. I think Bernard had something to do with it."

"I see." Ellington traced the wood of the windowsill thoughtfully. "Carol, why is Bernard my chaperone? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but it doesn't take Sherlock to deduce that he sees it as _babysitting_." She scowled faintly, not enough for anyone to notice. She was really hoping he'd just keep his distance.

Carol shrugged. "I'm really not sure. Scott didn't tell me, but he seemed very adamant that he be one of the chaperones. You could ask Bernard, maybe he knows. Then again, he seems to be in a bit of a bad mood lately—even before he found out you were coming for a visit. It's possible his behavior and your presence are actually unrelated."

"Maybe." Ellington figured that any conversation she had with Bernard would be strictly as needed. Whatever Carol said, Bernard was definitely standoffish, and she knew how to take a hint—especially now that Carol had confirmed her suspicion: it hadn't been his choice.

She would waste as little time with Bernard as possible. Anyway, she was in no mood to try and get people to warm up to her. It mattered to keep in mind that she was only at the Pole because her father was dying, and Santa had taken it upon himself to help her family-out of the goodness of his heart perhaps, or for some other unclear reason.

The more she was able to remember that, she figured, the better off she would be.

Abby quickly returned with what seemed to be highly caffeinated cocoa, and after downing it neither of the girls felt unbearably sleepy anymore-a boon, considering the jet lag they might have had otherwise. Besides, the excitement was enough to keep them awake. Afterward, they went and got dressed in new clothes. Annise chose a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with some converse shoes—clothes she was comfortable in. She apparently had had a wide selection of jeans and shirts to choose from, and had even found a snowcoat she liked among the clothes.

Ellington, on the other hand, went into the closet and found an oversized knit sweater, a pair of black jeans, and some combat boots with warm socks. She emerged from the closet with a jacket and some gloves, feeling a little more confident than she had before, grateful for the warmer layers.

Carol took Annise to meet with Curtis, and offered to take Ellington to Bernard as well. But Ellington declined, preferring to wander about a bit on her own before being subjected to Bernard's likely irritation and grousing. Not that she phrased it that way, of course. She merely suggested she would "find Bernard on her own, thank you."

Stepping out of the Workshop, Ellington immediately realized how impossible it would be to blend in. She was a great deal taller than most elves at five foot six, dressed in muted tones of grey, black and green, and if that wasn't enough, she had a _tan,_ something that was unheard of that far North. A few of the elves stopped and smiled at her, and Ellington smiled back, pulling her jacket warmly around herself to keep out the chill. And _boy,_ she _did_ feel the chill. Mrs. Claus was right, the tropical to polar weather change was no small thing.

Despite how out of her element she felt, the atmosphere was welcoming. Ellington figured that that was a part of the Christmas spirit that permeated the entire town. But somehow, something felt…off. She attributed it to her fluttery stomach and pushed the thought from her mind.

Elfsburg was charming to say the least, but it was difficult to tell where the Workshop ended and the town began-there were so many outlying buildings. However, in spite of her initial assumption that giving herself a tour would be practically impossible, Ellington found that most buildings were labeled, so she could easily tell what was what. And, of course, there were many street signs that directed her in every direction possible, making her self guided tour that much easier.

So Ellington was occupied for a good two and a half hours, enjoying the decorations and ornate architecture of the town. Each building seemed to have been designed with Christmas in mind—which she realized, was rather obvious. She noticed that, among many of the more common festive motifs, they relied heavily on swirls and rich colors. Ellington, who had a fondness for intricacies, was delighted to find that almost everything, for the streetlamps to the paving stones, had a special pattern or signature embossed onto their surfaces.

It wasn't snowing, but the ground was dusted with snow all the same. Either by merit of the cold or some kind of magic, it stayed dusty and didn't stick to the bottom of Ellington's boots like snow usually had in Washington. She'd forgotten how much she missed the cold, the snow. It was a refreshing change of pace from the muggy, hot Hawaiian weather she was accustomed to.

She stopped on a corner to look across at some young girl elves playing together in the snow. Not for the first time since her arrival, Ellington thought about her sisters. Annise, she knew, was her best friend. But Dottie, far away on the mainland, lived a life entirely different from theirs. The three sisters weren't close like they used to be. Dottie had pulled away from them long before their father got sick, and as Ellington had told Mackenzie and Kyle, she didn't even talk to them anymore. It was an awkward, distant situation at best, and deafening silence at its worst. This was part of the reason Ellington was so concerned about seeing her face to face for the first time in three years. She had told the truth; she genuinely didn't think Dottie would _want_ to see them.

She was drawn out of her dismal thoughts by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Ahem."

With a slight jump Ellington turned to see Bernard, dressed warmly in a coat and scarf in addition to his beret. He was holding two steaming drinks. "Took me a while to find you."

"Oh." Her voice flat, Ellington struggled to bring her head back from the dark place it had been going. "I guess I stayed out longer than I realized."

"What led you way out here?" Bernard was a little puzzled why she wouldn't want to explore the workshop instead. That was what most kids would have gone for…but then, she was closer to an adult than a child.

"Curiosity?" Ellington shrugged, looking up at the sky. "I miss the cold, to be honest. I needed to clear my head and…I didn't want to be in anyone's way." It was unspoken but clear just who she meant by 'anyone'.

Bernard looked at the drinks in his hands with a surprising pang of guilt in his stomach. "I didn't say you were in my way," he began tentatively.

"Well I didn't specify _who,_ but I'm glad to see you're clear on the subject." Ellington turned her gaze down to him, her expression blank and tired. "I didn't really need you to tell me. Your silence earlier practically screamed that you don't want anything to do with me. And that's fine! _Really._ I understand this whole 'chaperone' thing is probably a huge burden for you. I just don't need to feel like more of a thorn in everyone's side than I already do, okay? So let's not make it personal and just agree to go our separate ways." She sighed and looked over the surrounding buildings. "Sorry you had to come looking for me."

"It wasn't a problem. Look, I—"

Ellington scoffed. "Don't lie, it only makes it worse." She scuffed the snow with one booted foot, hands thrust deep into her pockets.

Bernard watched her for a minute, trying to figure out if she was just stressed out, upset, or downright depressed. He gave up after a moment and followed after her as she walked on. She was pretending to look at things in the shop windows. "I think we're really getting off on the wrong foot here."

"Oh really? _I_ thought we were well on our way to becoming best friends."

 _Great, a mouthy one._ "Very funny. Now, sorry to ruin your walk about town, but I was sent to come and get you. I've got a _lot_ to deal with today, you and your sisters aside, so if you could just follow me—"

"And what if I don't?" Ellington narrowed her eyes, assessing him. She felt exceptionally resistant all of a sudden, unwilling to put them both through such a struggle for nothing. "Would we really get in trouble for just leaving each other well enough alone? I'm sure you're a busy guy, and I don't need to cramp your style…frankly, with all of this going on and so much to think about, I wouldn't _mind_ being left to myself."

Bernard's mind flashed back to Annise's letter. _My sister Ellington is scared, but she doesn't say so. Ellington doesn't like to be afraid of anything. She's seventeen and really smart. She would be in college by now if Daddy wasn't sick all this time. She needs a friend, cause she doesn't really have any, besides me. I think that she needs a friend, someone to talk to. If you could help her, it would mean a lot to us both._

Sometimes that memory of his was actually more of a pain than a help.

" _Thanks,_ " Bernard replied. "It's nice to know that you _realize_ how I feel."

Ellington frowned mid sip of cocoa. "Wasn't exactly talking about you, pal, but nice dose of narcissism. Must go well with that winning personality."

Bernard glared. "You're got a real smart mouth, you know that?"

She shrugged passively, clearly unfazed. "Takes one to know one, doesn't it?"

"I was _trying_ to find common ground." Bernard said with a tired grimace. He was beginning to think he had been right about her being a real headache after all.

"Yeah, because an elf and a teenage millennial have _so_ much in common."

"As the more mature of the two of us, I was merely suggesting we try to get along rather than find reasons to hate each other." He looked at her for a long moment before going on. "I know that this is really bad timing all around. But truth be told, it's _never_ a good time for me to be sociable outside of work, because that's what I do: I work. A _lot._ A few people have argued more than I should, but hey; I figure, if I've been at it like this for sixteen hundred years and it hasn't killed me, why should I stop?" _Why_ in the name of Christmas was he _telling her all this?_ Bernard was used to speaking his mind, but not about personal things.

"You're sixteen _hundred_ years old?" Elle repeated, eyebrows lifting in surprise.

"Sixteen hundred and eighty six, actually."

She nodded slowly, appreciatively. "Impressive. It was hard enough for me to make it to seventeen."

"Thanks. But my point is…" Bernard stopped midsentence. "Wait. What did you just say?"

"I said, 'Impressive. It was hard enough for me to make it to seventeen.' Honestly, did I stutter?"

Seventeen. Why did that matter, exactly?

Bernard shook his head, shaking off the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. "No. Nothing. Never mind, pretend I didn't say anything."

Ellington gave him a long, puzzled sideways look. "Consider it done."

"My point was…you know what? We'll talk about it later. As it happens I _am_ late now. Come on, time to go. If you really have a problem with me, you can take it up with Santa. Until then, _yes:_ we _are_ stuck with each other. And good luck with convincing him this is a bad idea, because god knows he hasn't listened to me about it."

Irritated, yet not in the mood to challenge him openly again because it would probably cause a scene, Ellington followed after Bernard in a charged silence. Sometime later, walking down a seemingly endless street, she shored up her reserve and decided to _actually_ apologize. Rude though she often was, she could never hold out long before feeling plain old awful about whatever she'd said.

This time, though, apologizing seemed to be even harder than usual. All she could manage was, "I'm…sorry. For the way I acted back there. I'm burning on a short fuse lately, and I know it's not exactly pleasant to be around."

Bernard looked at her out of the corners of his eyes. Ellington's gaze was fixed on her drink. He decided to answer, instead of pretending not to have heard like he normally would. "Yeah, I didn't exactly try to be welcoming when you arrived, either. You were right, I made it sound more like I'd rather you left then stayed."

"Well, at least you were being honest."

"Doesn't make it okay." Ellington's stomach clenched. So there it was then. "And it's not entirely true, either. Like I explained, it's _always_ a bad time for me to have extra tasks—and I'm not exactly the life of the party, even on a good day."

"Regardless, me being snippy and making an ass of myself by giving you the cold shoulder doesn't exactly help. It's a miracle that you're all helping us as it is. I should be grateful, not difficult. It's just...I guess when I'm this stressed, it's a bit hard to keep that in mind."

"I can understand that better than most," the elf agreed, pausing a moment to actually pass her the drink he'd meant to give her. She looked startled before accepting it with a quiet thanks, and his mind went back to what she'd said earlier that morning. "Is it true what you said about having to look after your family's farm all by yourself? That's an awful lot of responsibility for someone your age."

"Not really," Ellington replied with a soft shrug. "It's just a routine, you get used to it. In all honesty, I don't feel like I'm doing _enough._ The way things are just makes me feel so _powerless,_ you know? Like no matter how hard I try, it's never enough to actually help _."_ She sighed. "By all rights I should be at the hospital with my mom, assisting her in any way I can. But instead, I'm just sitting at home feeding chickens. And it's _more_ frustrating because even if I _was_ there, I don't think I'd be much use either."

He stopped walking to look at her. "You're too hard on yourself. Your father's health and what's happening to your family because of it is out of your control. You shouldn't feel guilty because you can't fix it."

Bernard was still looking at her, deciding something for himself. He could see the tension in her shoulders, the way she was refusing to cry. Annise was right: Ellington _was_ afraid.

"Is it wrong for me to wish I could?" She asked, and after a moment he shook his head.

"Of course not."

Ellington moved her eyes quickly to the ground, eyes pricking painfully. She pursed her lips and looked away, inhaling sharply. "Sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to...I shouldn't have said anything. Forget I brought this up, I'm only making you more late." Trying to walk around him, she felt him snap the sleeve of her coat again.

"Hey." His voice had changed, was somehow kinder. It struck a nerve and made her want to cry even more. "It's okay to share how you're feeling."

"Yeah, not with the guy who would rather not be here right now."

Bernard sighed in irritation—mainly, irritation that he _wasn't_ irritated anymore. "I don't _mind_ —"

Ellington rolled her eyes, looking worn out. "Look buddy, I don't want your sympathy. I get the feeling that I'm going to have nearly drowned in compassion by the time I end up going home, so please. Don't strain yourself." She shook her head and looked at him sideways. "Besides, I've had enough false sympathy, or pity, or whatever you want to call it over the past year to last me a _lifetime."_

"Then I won't pity you, or sympathize," Bernard replied simply, not looking too bothered by her statement at all. "But I think we could both benefit by having someone to commiserate with."

"?"

Bernard shrugged…or maybe he was re-adjusting his coat. "Since we're already stuck with each other for now, we might as well make the best of it, right? I don't mind having someone to talk to, if you don't."

The girl eyed him skeptically. "You're just saying that so I don't feel bad about wasting your time, aren't you?" Based on the direction of the street Bernard chose Ellington guessed that they were headed back to the workshop.

"No, that's _not_ it. You read into things too much."

"And you make a lot of definite statements for someone who's known me for all of ten minutes, but I wasn't calling you out."

Bernard tried again. "What I'm trying to say is, I wasn't resenting _you,_ I was just resenting the _situation._ And since the situation isn't going to change, I might as well actually try to enjoy it rather than make it hellish."

"You sure you wanna go through the hassle?"

He shrugged. "I'm willing if you are."

"Well, I suppose we could try," Ellington replied, turning her attention to the snow covered ground. "But I can't promise it'll work. I'm not exactly the most personable, even on a good day."

"But that really you, though?" Bernard asked, after a thoughtful pause. "Or is that just the situation you're in?"

"Honestly? I'm not even sure I know anymore."

"Well then." Bernard tilted his cup towards hers. "Here's to finding out."

Tentatively, Ellington brought her cup to tap against his. Who knew how well this was going to go, with both of their sharp tongues and clashing wits. More than likely it would end catastrophically, but why not take the risk? She'd already made a big enough leap of faith today, what was one more? "To finding out."

* * *

Meanwhile, Curtis was busy showing Annise around the Workshop.

Annise was quiet, walking with him with wide eyes as she took in all the amazing sights around her. She wasn't exactly talkative, but she was definitely appreciative. It was actually a perfect match, because Curtis loved to explain everything, and Annise was more than willing to listen.

"You okay?" Curtis eventually asked, stopping his torrent of demonstrations and excited chatter to look at Annise's face.

Annise nodded, letting out a little sigh along with a smile. "Yeah, it's just…a lot to take in." She looked around at the bustling floor, eyes bright. "I mean, yesterday I didn't even think this place existed, let alone understand how _big_ it is."

"It is big, isn't it?" Curtis looked around thoughtfully. "You kinda lose sight of that after a while." His attention eventually shifted back to Annise. "So, are you hungry? I know of a great little café in Elfsburg."

"Okay," Annise said, looking up with a sparkle in her eye. "Hey, could I maybe go see the reindeer when we get back?"

"Sure. Maybe you can even take a ride on Chet." Curtis took her hand again, smiling for a moment before frowning. "Well, maybe not Chet. He's making leaps and bounds in his training but he's still not the best for joyrides. Maybe Dancer, instead-but never mind that for now. Come on. If we hurry, we can beat the break time rush."

This wasn't as hard as he'd expected, to be honest. Annise was a really easy girl to get along with, and his initial blushing, fumbling manner had worn off quickly—especially since she seemed to be eager to put him at ease. He wondered if that was something she learned from being around her older sister. She certainly seemed to know how to calm Ellington down.

They almost ran into Bernard and Ellington at the front doors. Bernard was tugging them open just as they got there, and Annise almost crashed into her sister.

"Hey senpai," Ellington said, a genuine smile breaking out across her face. Annise was bear hugging her sister a moment later.

"Senpai! Have you seen this place yet?" Annise asked, even though Curtis was behind her back mouthing 'senpai' in confusion.

"Not yet," Ellington admitted, glancing around the bustling workshop briefly. "Sure looks impressive though."

"It is. Maybe if Bernard has time he can show you around."

"Not sure Bernard's got the schedule for that right now, kiddo. But I will as soon as I get a chance," said Ellington with a smile. "Where are you two headed?"

"Out for lunch I think, and then Curtis says I can see the reindeer."

"Great. I'll catch up with you later then, okay?" Ellington hugged her sister once more and let her out the door, Curtis following after her with a slightly awkward smile. She watched them go until they made it off the staircase.

"Funny." Ellington turned to look at Bernard, unsure what he meant by that. He was wearing a crooked little smile. "For a second there I could have sworn you actually looked happy."

Ellington flushed pink, ducking her head slightly to hide her smile. "Shut up. Of course I was happy, I was with my sister."

Bernard reached a hand up and patted her on the shoulder. "See? I think I was right."

"Oh? About what?"

He looked almost triumphant. "That it's your situation making you sad and antisocial."

"Oh, _thanks._ "

He let his hand drop and grinned, actually _grinned_ as he shook his head ruefully. "Don't take it like that. It's a good thing."

"Really."

"Yeah. It means things can get better." This made Ellington stop and stare a second. When he put it like that… "Makes it seem simple, doesn't it?" He didn't seem fazed by her startled look.

"Yeah," Ellington broke into a smaller smile, almost hopeful. "It does."

Bernard tugged her by the sleeve once more. "And I actually _do_ have time to show you around the workshop. That's kinda why I came to get you, so I can multitask and give you the grand tour while I make my rounds. Mind tagging along?"

"As long as you don't mind," Ellington replied, still hesitant to intrude.

"Not a bit." And from the look on his face, Bernard actually meant it.


	4. Chapter 4

_4._

It was mildly surprising to everyone how Bernard's attitude towards his chaperoning duties changed after that first afternoon.

Make no mistake, he wasn't thrilled about having to slow his schedule down a tad and keep his focus in two places most of the time, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he'd expected. Sure, maybe Ellington was a bit glum at times, but she was quiet and when she wasn't, she was intelligent and even funny. Besides, her sadness and tension was easily explainable; and it seemed the longer she was away from home, the better her mood grew-especially once they sorted the matter of her parents.

After quite the brainstorming session Santa and Ellington had come up with the idea to send Mr. and Mrs. Connelly some elves posing as some sort of charity organization, who were helping the girls during "their time of need." Given how stressed and tired they were, Phillip and Josette were too grateful to put too much thought into the strangely short social workers and their promises that the girls were safe. Ellington did the rest, talking to them over the phone and taking care of any concerns they had. After that, her mood had lightened considerably, because she didn't have to worry about them worrying about _her._ From then on out she was able to truly enjoy her stay in the Workshop.

Bernard didn't like to admit it (and he wouldn't have if you had asked him) but he didn't mind having someone with him who was interested in what he was doing, and not showing him up. Curtis could wear on anyone after a while, so having a change of face was nice. Not to mention, the girl seemed to be distracting him from his own problems—when she was actually with him.

Because another thing Ellington was very good about was entertaining herself. She seemed to be quite fascinated with how things worked, how the toys were made and the other gifts as well.

And so, a week into the girl's stay, Bernard found it surprising that he _enjoyed_ her company.

What was so bad about that?

What was so bad about that, he reminded himself, was that it was distracting him from his work. He should be focusing on maintaining quotas, not holding a mental debate with himself on whether it was okay for him to like Ellington.

Yes, "like" Ellington. No more, no less. It wasn't an obligation to feel anything more. So why did he feel so stressed about it?

"Ugh." Bernard groaned. His mind was playing games with him, and he was losing.

"Illogical," he said out loud. That was it. _Illogical._

"I thought you were an elf, not a Vulcan."

Surprised that he'd been overheard, Bernard turned around to face the voice.

Ellington wore a mildly amused expression as she sipped at a cup of something hot. "I mean, you do have the ears. Straighten those curls into some bangs and I just might believe it."

"So you know a thing or two about Star Trek, hmm?" Bernard commented, still keeping his focus mostly on the list he was double checking.

"A bit. My dad got me into it last year," Ellington replied, her tone softening. Bernard looked over to find her expression had dropped a little.

"Probably could pass for a Vulcan."

Ellington looked up in confusion. "What's that?"

"I said, I probably could pass for a Vulcan," Bernard said good naturedly. "You know, _if_ I did something pretty eccentric with my eyebrows."

Ellington's smirk grew a little, a fond twinkle in her eye as she looked at the clipboard in his hand. "What are you doing? Crossword?"

That garnered a sideways look. "Really."

"Oh c'mon, don't even try to tell me that you're not that old," Ellington quietly said with a slight sideways nudge, and in spite of himself Bernard found he was smiling.

"Not for an elf," he replied, and Ellington looked mildly interested before deciding not to pursue an answer. She peered slightly over his shoulder, curious as to what was so confusing.

"What's going on here?" Bernard couldn't help but peer at her reaction to the numbers, finding her brow furrowed and her eyes locked on the page.

"Eh, something isn't adding up, but I think I've been looking at it too long. Can't seem to pinpoint it." For a few seconds he forgot he was supposed to be solving the chart himself, until she gave him another subtle nudge. "Hmm?"

"Row three," she said, pointing at the line in questions. "Looks like a seven, it's actually a one."

"Oh? I doubt it's that simple." His eyes went back to the sheet, following her finger to the number in question and quickly recalculating the column in his mind. "On second thought..." He changed the number with a reluctant tilt of his head and a small smile. "I think you got it."

"Glad to help," Elle said with a brighter smile than she normally gave, before realizing how close she was standing and taking a step back. "I'm gonna go see what's going on over here," she said slightly awkwardly, beating a retreat to where some ice skates were being laced and readied for packaging. Bernard only smiled crookedly and shook his head at her antics.

Santa was with Curtis, checking out some toys that were giving the elves on the production floor a bit of trouble. Seeing Bernard coming towards them wearing an almost peaceful expression, Scott raised an eyebrow. "Well someone's in a half decent mood," he muttered to Curtis, who looked over equally surprised.

"Good morning, Bernard?" he asked, seeming slightly amused.

"Pretty good, yeah." Bernard almost looked happy for a moment before clearing his throat. "Considering it's a Monday and all, that is."

"Right, of course."

"Here are the charts you asked for," the head elf replied nonchalantly, passing them to Scott.

"All sorted out?"

"Of course."

"Any trouble?"

"A little. But I had some help." Scott followed Bernard's gaze to Ellington, noting the elf's sideways smirk. Ellington had moved on from the skates, standing beside an elf who seemed to be having trouble with some sort of wiring assembly.

"She's not giving you too much grief, is she?" Scott asked, sounding slightly entertained.

"Not at all. I really don't know why I was so stressed about it before, she's actually more of a help than a hindrance." Bernard turned his attention to what Curtis was trying to fix.

"From what Curtis had told me, Annise is just as well mannered. Charlie says Dorothy is still stuck in the denial phase, but he's going to show her some of the more magical places around Elfsburg this afternoon. Maybe that'll help convince her," Scott said with a little laugh. Dorothy had arrived in the late half of the week, and was taking awhile to come around to the fact that she really _was_ at the North Pole.

"Yeah, well. All of this can be a bit much for people nowadays. Seems like some kind of hologram show or something. Hopefully she'll come around."

"You don't seem too worried about it."

"What can I say, they're good kids. And even if Dorothy is on the Naughty List, no one is more equipped to help her overcome that than Charlie." Bernard sighed and snatched something from Curtis, turning it several times before setting it back in its slot. The toy rocket sprang to life, Curtis making an impressed noise. "Have you heard from the council yet? Is everybody still on for this evening?"

"Mother Nature called earlier, said everyone should be here around six," Scott replied, moving down the row a ways to pick a color of ribbon for a particular type of doll. "Of course, Jack didn't call her back so his showing up is a bit up in the air—"

"Not that I have a problem with that," Bernard muttered, and Scott groaned.

"Bernard, I thought we'd agreed to leave that in the past."

"I'm just saying, the last time we had new guests here he stirred up a great deal of trouble. It's only natural that I'm a little wary." From across the workshop a small round of excited cheering rose. Scott and Bernard looked over to find Ellington blushing, patting the elf on the shoulder in a way that clearly meant she was putting credit onto him. The elves seemed to be praising the both of them though, which led Bernard to think that Ellington maybe really did have a knack for fixing things after all.

"Huh. She sure seems to be adjusting well," Scott commented, watching the look on Bernard's face and musing on how he almost seemed…affectionate? "And you seem to be in a good mood whenever she's around."

"What can I say? She grows on you," Bernard said, breaking into a smile as she waved at them happily, allowing another elf to lead her by the hand over to the dollhouses.

* * *

It had been Bernard's idea not to tell the girls that the council was assembling that night to discuss the matter of their father's life. He had managed to convince Scott that making them stress all evening over whether or not the Legendaries could find an immediate solution wasn't exactly fair to any of them. In fact, an outright distraction might be in order.

"I don't know if Annise and I having a 'family dinner' with Dottie is such a good idea," Ellington had told him, frowning and scuffing her boot against the straw strewn floor the stables. It wasn't the first time he'd brought the idea up in a roundabout way, but each time she seemed to shut down and become very unsure and quiet. At this point, he hated seeing her that way—and he hated being the cause of it even more.

"Why not? I thought that seeing Dorothy here is the first time in years for you and Annise," Bernard asked patiently, opening the gate to join her and hand her a brush. He had finally found time in his schedule to take a short break to teach Ellington how to properly groom a reindeer. "Don't you want to spend time together, make use of the opportunity?"

Ellington sighed, scratching behind Dancer's ears thoughtfully. "If that were the case, don't you think we would have made an effort to do that sometime during the week we've been here?" she pointed out, looking away awkwardly.

"I take it the three of you aren't on the best of terms, then," Bernard said, and Ellington's stomach sank.

"That's putting it lightly." She slipped her hand into the strap of the brush, still keeping her eyes downcast. "When we moved away it was to save my mom's life—the cold climate was really harsh on her health, you know? But in spite of the truth, Dottie seemed set on taking the move personally, like we were leaving her behind. It wasn't our fault that her mother has custody, and doesn't like to let her visit much." She sighed, staring at the brush absently as though caught in the memory.

Before she could fall too deep into the train of thought however, she was pulled out of her mind by the feeling of Bernard's hand over hers. She looked up in surprise to find him guiding her hand, trailing the brush over the reindeer's coat in smooth, sure strokes. "Well," he said, as though his standing so very close behind her were perfectly normal. Was it? All Ellington knew was that her cheeks suddenly felt very warm. "You can't really change how she's been feeling about it. But now that you're actually together again face to face, maybe you can show her that just because you moved away doesn't mean she stopped being a part of your family."

Ellington nodded softly, not complaining when she'd already gotten the hang of the rhythm and Bernard didn't pull his hand away. "I just don't know if she'll be willing to listen," she admitted.

"If you don't try, you'll never know." Somehow, Ellington felt calmed by his words. "And she _is_ your sister. She may be upset, but you're family—and I think deep down she knows that you and Annise are only kids. _If_ she wants to blame anyone, it's your parents."

"The last thing we need is her blaming them right now," Ellington pointed out, but it wasn't as worried as she'd sounded before. "I don't know. I know dad's cancer has been hard on her too. Maybe you're right. Maybe we just need to find a way to move past everything that's happened."

"It's a start," Bernard agreed. It only then occurred to him that for the greater part of two minutes, Ellington had been fully capable of managing the brush on her own. He was also quite aware of the fact that she seemed perfectly content almost holding hands with him. Upon closer inspection, he found her cheeks dusted pink, and the idea that he'd flustered her made him smirk just a little. "Think you've got a hang of this?"

"Just about," Ellington said quietly, and the fact that her tone sounded vaguely reluctant only made his smile grow a little more. A moment later she turned to look at him, her cheeks darkening a bit and her eyes dropping shyly as she found him already with his gaze on her. "It's kind of relaxing, isn't it?" Dancer made a happy little noise, their nose still buried in their feed bucket. Ellington smiled, her eyes on the reindeer and therefore entirely missing the fond smile on Bernard's face. Even Bernard wasn't fully aware he was making it, too distracted by the fact that when Ellington was happy, she seemed to light up the room.

He finally let her hand go, moving to the other side of the stall to work on the other side of Dancer's coat. Maybe Scott was right, that he really was happier when Ellington was around. He _was_ happier since they'd come to terms with each other than he'd been in quite a while. Were they friends? Was that too far of a reach? He wasn't sure, but he knew he enjoyed making her lighten up in whatever way he could. It didn't even feel like a burden, which was surprising.

But after a moment his train of thought returned to what he'd been trying to sort out, and he started up the conversation again. "Do you think," he began carefully, "that tonight would work? For the dinner, that is. I can have everything arranged. I know it's kinda short notice, but—"

"No, you're right," Ellington agreed abruptly, looking up with a thoughtful expression. "It's one of those things where the sooner we deal with it, the better. I mean, it'll only get more awkward if we keep avoiding each other."

"Tonight it is then. Six sound alright?"

Ellington hesitated before sighing and giving a little shrug. "Why not?" She smiled and stopped brushing, taking the strap from her hand. She was still anxious and worried about actually facing Dottie when the last few times she had had been quite confrontational, but she didn't need to tell Bernard that. She could already feel a headache coming on just from the thought of how badly the night could end. Regardless of how willing she seemed in front of the elf, she was far from sure that things wouldn't end terribly. "Is it okay if I split? After all, Annise will need some convincing, and I should probably take a shower. I'll need all the time I can get."

"Of course." Bernard felt a pang of disappointment, but tried not to think about it.

"Thanks." Ellington slipped her foot into the wood of the gate and quickly climbed over it, landing on her feet on the other side with a slight thud. "And Bernard?" She added, causing the elf's expression to grow more attentive. "Thank you for taking time to show me the reindeer, and for the talk. I know how busy you are, and…well. It means a lot." She gave him a smile and went off without waiting for an answer, leaving Bernard smiling softly in her wake. _She really is a good kid,_ Bernard thought to himself, an unfamiliar warmth in his chest.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of one of the stable elves snickering softly. Bernard frowned in confusion, unsure what was laughable about the situation. "Something funny, Eustace?" he asked, the elf stopping with the wheelbarrow of straw he was moving. He grinned and pushed his engineer's cap up, a grin on his lips.

"Oh nothing, sir. I was just finding it a little funny how comfortable you seem around miss Ellington. Almost, familiar?" By the suggestive lift of his eyebrow it was clear what he was trying to point out.

"I was teaching her how to groom a reindeer," Bernard said, his voice lifting an octave as he defended his actions. "Standing on the other side of the stall wouldn't have helped me much, now would it?"

"I don't expect it would," the elf agreed with a nod. "And you've always seemed like a hands-on kinda guy. But it occurs to me that Ellington lives on a farm, and from the reports my elves have given me on the livestock they have, well. She already knows how to groom an animal." He chuckled again. "Then again, she didn't exactly seem to be complaining. That's all." Seeing Bernard was startled and a little taken aback by his words, Eustace continued on with his activities, leaving the head elf to sort out how he felt about that information.

After a moment, Bernard scowled. Why _was_ he so comfortable around Ellington? Why _did_ he find her so endearing? He made a mental note to not make that kind of mistake again. After all, she was only seventeen. He really shouldn't be misreading any kind of interaction between them. "How much do I have to pay them not to be so nosy?" he said to himself, Dancer murmuring in agreement. "You understand, don't you? Reindeer are _so_ much better than people sometimes." He gave her coat a few more strokes before giving her head a pat and teleporting off in a shimmer of gold sparks. He had plenty to do to prepare for the council meeting.

* * *

Six o' clock rolled around, finding Ellington and Annise dressed up nicely and ready for dinner with Dottie. Both girls were apprehensive, but Ellington was doing all she could to keep Annise from getting too anxious. In spite of having had a rather nasty headache most of the evening, Ellington was trying to stay positive. If all three of them could get along, it would make things a lot less awkward for everyone involved. So far Santa and Mrs. Claus had seemed a bit bewildered by their hesitance to be around their sister, and Ellington suspected that sentiment had something to do with Bernard orchestrating this dinner for them. She just hoped that it wouldn't be a letdown for everyone involved.

"Do you think she's mad at us? For not calling more, for not being able to afford to fly her out?" Annise asked as the girls made their way through the halls of the main workshop, passing busy elves left and right. Ellington frowned and shook her head, feeling a static sort of buzzing in and around her ears.

"If she is, that isn't something we can help," The older sister replied, squeezing Annise's hand reassuringly. "All we can try to do at this point is leave the past behind us, and move forward. After all, we're here so we can help dad. Even if she's mad at him, she still loves him. We have that in common."

"Ellington!" The conversation was cut short by the sound of running feet, a small voice rising over the noise. Both girls turned to find an elf chasing after them, one Ellington recognized from the day before.

"Hey Archie, what's up?" Ellington gave an easy smile, even though her head was killing her. Seeing that Annise looked interested, she decided to introduce the two. "Annise, this is Archie. He plans the music that plays here in the workshop and manages the radio station that broadcasts throughout all of Elfsburg. Archie, this is my sister Annise."

"It's a real pleasure," Archie replied, smiling and shaking the hand Annise had eagerly held out. He was still a little winded from trying to catch up to them. "Sorry to interrupt wherever you two were going, but I was wondering if you were still going to be available this evening to show me the music you brought with you? And that site you promised to show me?"

Ellington grimaced slightly. "Yikes, Archie, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot about that, and Bernard arranged for us to have dinner with our sister Dottie. Can we try again, maybe tomorrow? Or whenever you have time, I know you're a busy guy."

Archie made a dismissive noise, waving a hand with a grin. "Please, I can always make time for you. Besides, I don't always get an opportunity to get my hands on new music. I'll take a raincheck! Feel free to swing by my office any time you'd like—or you know, any time that you're not busy with Bernard." He made off back in the direction he'd come, apparently not dispirited in the least. "And good luck to both of you with dinner! I hope you have a good night."

"Thanks, I think we're gonna need it. And you too!" Ellington called in reply, turning back onto the path she and Annise had been setting for the town square. The comment about Bernard had struck her funny for some reason. She didn't spend that much time around Bernard, did she? On second thought, she rather did.

"Seems like a nice elf," Annise commented, and Ellington nodded as she held the door open.

"Aren't they all? I'm not sure, but I doubt they'd be allowed to work here if they were mean. But anyway yeah, Archie's pretty cool." The sisters tramped outside, snow lightly falling on them and their breath steaming as they made their way downtown. "I forgot to ask you yesterday, how is Curtis treating you as a chaperone? Last time I saw you seemed to be getting along alright." Small talk wasn't doing much for Ellington's ever growing migraine, but it did help pass the time and keep the topic away from Dottie.

"Curtis is fun, actually," Annise admitted with a slight shrug. "He can be a bit uptight at times but for the most part, he really goes out of his way to keep me entertained. I almost feel a bit guilty sometimes, for taking up his time. He's pretty busy inventing stuff most days, from what I've seen."

"Well that's R and D for ya." Ellington pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. The address for the restaurant was written across it in Bernard's distinctive handwriting, and Ellington found herself spacing off and admiring the script before focusing and turning her feet in the right direction. "Okay, just two blocks this way."

"Good, it's freezing out here," Annise said with a little shiver, rubbing her arms over her coat.

Ellington eyed her mischievously. "It bothers you? The cold, I mean."

"Just a bit. Considering where are and where we live it's not that surprising," Annise replied defensively, making her older sister chuckle and nudge her playfully.

"I was only teasing." Not five minutes later they were stepping into the warm foyer of the restaurant, where the staff seemed to be expecting them. Annise and Ellington were too distracted to take in the surroundings though, suddenly struck by the reality of the situation. Beyond a set of double doors, their sister was waiting for them, and neither of them knew how she would react.

"Right this way," the waitress said cheerfully, the bells on her shoes jangling brightly, but she seemed slightly on edge, as though she'd been put under warning that things might not go well. At least Ellington hoped Bernard had warned them. She didn't want to surprise these elves with the rather twisted elements of the Connelly family dynamic.

"Thank you." Ellington tugged nervously at the sleeve of her blouse nervously before offering Annise her hand and following behind. Her headache was still raging, to the point of making her eyes water slightly, and she wished she'd thought to ask for some aspirin or something before she'd left the workshop. Oh well, there wasn't any help for it now.

The girls went into the room, surprised and yet not so to find that it was a private room, and that Dottie sat alone at the far end of the table. She was sitting sideways with her legs across the arm of the chair, face furrowed thoughtfully as she scrolled through her phone. There wasn't any food on the table yet, only glasses of water and silverware and napkins at each place, so apparently they had arrived in perfect timing and she hadn't been waiting long. She looked over and immediately perked up when she noticed the Annise and Ellington, her eyes going wide.

"I wasn't sure you two would show up," she said, sounding slightly surprised and yet nonplussed. Ellington wasn't exactly sure because of how blurry her eyes were at the moment, but she thought that there was quite a bit of defensive cynicism in her sister's eyes.

"Why would we invite you here and then not show up?" Ellington replied with a shrug and a sigh, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table. Annise looked back and forth between both of her older siblings before taking a seat partway down the table, almost evenly between the both of them but just slightly closer to Ellington. Clearly she was trying to be a mediator in case things took a turn for the worst.

"Dunno. Sometimes you don't have a good reason," Dottie said offhandedly, examining her nails.

Ellington rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat and already feeling tired. "Can we save the subtext please? I know you've got _plenty_ of resentment built up but I'd like to at least _try_ and have this be a nice evening for the three of us," she said, shooting Annise a reassuring look. Annise smiled thinly, clearly still trying to keep up her spirits. She turned to Dottie, giving her a genuine smile.

"I was worried _you_ might not be here, Dot. I'm glad you didn't back out," she said softly, and even Dottie had to stop glaring at Ellington to sigh and give a slightly more relaxed shrug.

"Well I didn't have any other plans, exactly. Charlie is busy with his dad tonight or something so I would have just been holed up in my room. Not that that would've been bad, the rooms here are amazing and the wifi _is_ ridiculously fast." Dottie fell silent as a waiter brought the first course in, all of the girls sitting in a tense silence that seemed to spook the staff a little.

They remained silent through their bowls of soup, almost as if they were all afraid of picking the wrong thing to say. Ellington was the least hungry, leaving a good half of her bowl behind simply because of her migraine induced nausea.

"You and Charlie getting along alright?" Annise asked Dottie, mimicking the question Ellington had asked her minutes before. Ellington was sitting silently, her elbow on the armrest as she rested her cheek on one hand and subtly rubbed at her aching temple.

"Yeah. I'll admit the whole chaperone thing is a little bit better because he's not some grumpy old adult who's constantly bossing me around. It's actually been pretty fun, generally—if not a little unbelievable."

"Unbelievable?" Ellington repeated, opening her eyes. She wasn't sure when she'd closed them, but she suspected it was around the same point that her ears had begun ringing again.

"Yeah, _unbelievable_. We're at the freaking North Pole, if you haven't been too busy falling asleep to notice!" Dottie snapped back. Ellington scowled, then quickly stopped when she realized it only served to make her headache worse. Dottie's expression grew sly. "I heard you got stuck with the crotchety Head Elf. How's that panning out for you? Is that the reason you look so worn out, or am I really that boring to you after all this time?"

"Dottie!" Annise said reproachfully, trying to calm both of her sisters down before things got nasty.

"For goodness sake Dot, it's been a year and a half. Not a decade," Ellington retorted sharply. "We all love you just as much as we did when we moved away, but you just insist on being bitter over something Annise and I couldn't control!" Dottie leaned back in surprise at Ellington's outburst, noting how all the glasses on the table were shaking. Ellington gritted her teeth and lifted her eyebrows, trying to relax her eyes and ease what was by now a crushing headache. "I don't know why I'm feeling like this, but I'm still trying to pull through and make this decent so could you just _stop_ trying to push my buttons—"

Dottie looked down at her soup, an unreadable expression on her face. 'Well excuse me if no one has time to deal with the real problems before we pretend to be okay.'

"Enough!" Ellington stood up, glaring daggers down the table at her sister. Before she knew what was happening, her steak knife was stuck in the top of Dottie's chair, and all three of the water glasses were smashed against the wall behind her. The blonde haired girl was hunched down almost into her dinner in an effort to avoid all of the projectiles, while Annise had let out a frightened yell and was now plastered to the back of her chair, leaning as much out of the way as she was able. Ellington blinked, her eyes growing fuzzy again. She hadn't thrown that knife or the glasses, how had they…

"What the _hell, Ellington!?_ " Dottie yelled at her, her face red with rage. "You go from peaceful pushover to murderous crazy person in two seconds flat now? Get yourself together! And how did you..."

But Ellington wasn't listening, too busy clutching at her head. Her eyes were screwed shut in pain, the ringing in her ears overpowering until it seemed to clear. She fell back into her seat, eyes wide as the sound of hundreds of people speaking filled her ears.

"Els?" Annise asked fearfully. 'Is she okay?' Ellington didn't understand why she'd phrased it like that until she looked over at Dottie and realized neither of their mouths were moving, yet she could hear Dottie's voice.

'Has she gone completely mental on us? What the hell is going on?'

She was hearing their thoughts—and by the noise in her head, everyone else's for a good few miles too. Her vision was going black as she began to realize that there were elves on either side of her chair now, calling to each other and thinking frenetic, worried thoughts about _what was wrong with the poor human girl?_ And a recurring idea to find someone called Dr. Hismus.

With these final confusing thoughts overpowering her senses, Ellington went out in a cold faint.


	5. Chapter 5

_5._

When Ellington came to, she wasn't in the restaurant anymore. She wasn't in her room either, or any other recognizable place she'd been in Elfsburg so far. Her eyes felt too heavy and her head felt the same, and it took a great deal of effort to move either. But eventually her eyes opened and she found herself in some sort of hospital, but it seemed like she was one of the only patients. She supposed that the elves must not get sick very often, but then quickly decided to stop thinking when she realized that it was too difficult for her to think straight without making her head throb.

She let out a groan, trying to sit up because it felt a little difficult to breathe. But no sooner had she begun to move that there was a hand on her shoulder, guiding her back down. When she opened her eyes again she was surprised to find worried brown ones looking back.

"Bernard?" she asked confusedly, her voice a bit hoarse from lack of use. "Wha…where am I? What happened, why am I—"

Bernard quickly shushed her, watching her with the level of concern one might give to a lit fuse, if not with a bit more sympathy. "You shouldn't be up right now, Ellington. Doctor Hismus and Mother Nature haven't fully discussed what's going on with you, and we don't know what triggered your…" He fell silent a moment before continuing carefully. "…incident. Until we do you should stay resting as much as possible."

"What incident?" Ellington asked, still perturbed and too scatterbrained to truly take heed of Bernard's warnings. Bernard sighed tiredly, running a hand over his face. "What did I do?"

"Well, what do you remember?" the elf asked, sitting down again and scooting his chair closer to her bed. He seemed to genuinely want an answer, so Ellington thought back to what blurry confused memories she had of earlier that evening.

"I don't know, we…we were having dinner like we were supposed to…my head was still killing me and Dottie was being absolutely _dense_ but that wasn't too surprising—"

"Wait a second, back up. Your head was hurting you?" Bernard asked. Ellington nodded, then grimaced slightly.

"It has been all afternoon and still is, honestly. But I was trying to just ignore it because I was so busy trying to make the evening go well and then…" She fell silent, looking down at her hands on her lap.

"Then?"

"Then I don't know what happened," Ellington finished, sounding tense and defensive. From what she remembered, she'd tried to hurt Dottie? That just _couldn't_ be right. She might have been angry with her sister, but she would _never_ try to physically harm her. Her temples ached at the very thought.

"Are you sure?" Bernard asked, not sounding particularly suspicious, but Ellington felt attacked nonetheless—a fact that the heart monitor beside her bed quickly confirmed.

"Yes!" Ellington snapped, and no sooner had she spoken that the glass on the side table shattered. She jumped, her pulse fluttering staccato as she recoiled from that side of the room. "I—I didn't do that—I didn't mean to—" Her headache sprung back to life at a dull roar, the subtle yet overwhelming noise of hundreds of voices making her clutch at her head. She curled in on herself, whimpering in pain. She thought she heard Bernard yell for someone, but she wasn't paying enough attention to be sure—at least, not until she felt fingers grip around her wrists, trying to pull her hands away from her ears.

' _It's okay! Elle, it's okay. Just relax,'_ was the first thing that made its way through the mad jumble of thoughts crowding her brain, and all of a sudden the other voices didn't seem so loud. She opened her eyes and found that the room was now bustling with elf nurses and several rather outlandishly dressed people crowded in at the doorway. But Bernard was the first thing she saw yet again, his attention fully fixed on her face.

' _Can you hear me?'_ he asked, his mouth not moving an inch. Ellington hesitated a long moment before nodding slowly, tears streaking down her cheeks. Bernard's eyes widened and he turned to say something to the people at the door. The woman of the group nodded, speaking to the elf Ellington could tell was Hismus. Somewhere in the jumble she caught the word 'telepathy' and she almost began to struggle again, but then Bernard cut in once more. ' _Hey…focus on me. Ignore the noise—and I know it's noisy, don't worry. Doctor Hismus is going to give you something to stabilize everything going on in your head.'_

Ellington shook her head, terrified of what that could mean. Were they going to sedate her? Why was it so hard to think with all the static in her mind? Most of her questions had obvious answers, but she wasn't in any place to form a straight thought, let alone a whole train of them. All she could do was try to focus on what Bernard was thinking at her while ignoring the somewhat painful burn of whatever the doctor was injecting her with.

' _What is wrong with me?'_ was the only thought of her own she had bouncing around her head, and she thought it was kept only to herself until she saw Bernard's face shift into surprise again.

' _Nothing is wrong with you,'_ he assured her, and this time it was Ellington's turn to be surprised.

' _You can hear me?!'_ when Ellington thought at him, noting his slight cringe. She unwittingly mirrored the expression as Hismus pulled the syringe from her arm and put a bit of gauze and red and white striped medical tape over the injection site.

"That may make you a little loopy," Hismus admitted, watching her with concern with his glasses perched low on his nose. Ellington barely heard him as she rubbed at the sore spot it left behind, hardly noticing the diminishing torrent of background noise.

' _Yikes. You don't have to yell—or, well, think at me so hard. You seem to be doing a good enough job getting through without that,'_ Bernard replied, still eerily silent even though his voice was as clear as a bell in her mind. ' _It seems like you're developing some kind of telepathy—quite strong, by the looks of things. We're trying to figure out why exactly, but for now, it's a matter of keeping the thoughts of others out of your mind. Well, except for the ones you want there.'_

Ellington nodded slowly, still holding onto the sound of his voice like a lifeline in the ocean of thoughts and emotions she was currently experiencing. It was fading though, all of the other sound, while Bernard alone stayed clear. She wondered if her focusing on him really was helping somehow, or if it was just the medication doing its job. ' _Telepathy? Like mind reading, or…what exactly?'_

' _Based on what you're exhibiting, it seemed like a bit more than just mind reading Elle,'_ Bernard replied, glancing at the people in the doorway and saying something to Scott that she didn't try to read in on. For some reason, she was focused on what he'd said. Not the part about mind reading, but calling her Elle. There it was again. She rather liked the nickname, coming from him. It made them feel just a little more familiar.

' _Why Elle?'_

' _Hmm?'_ Bernard turned back to look at her with a vaguely confused expression.

' _You called me Elle, just now. You've been doing it for a while now, but I never brought it up. Was it an accident, or...?'_

The corners of Bernard's mouth tilted upwards, the faintest additional tinge of pink staining his cheeks as he gave a little shrug. ' _I dunno, it just kind of slipped out. I guess you could say it felt right, somehow…and hey, while Ellington's a good name, it is a bit of a mouthful.'_

Ellington couldn't help but giggle at that, a slight hiccup dampening the noise. It seemed that the medication was beginning to hit her system by now, and she was more relaxed and almost dopy. Bernard smiled a little wider at her expression and the cute flush across the bridge of her nose. Apparently, he'd struck a chord somehow.

' _Yeah, well. "Bernard" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either,'_ Ellington retorted softly, the both of them breaking down into quiet yet audible laughter. It was only when Ellington suddenly became aware of how attractive he was with happiness dancing in his eyes that she realized that all the voices in her head other than his were gone. Her mind was as still as a graveyard.

"Is she alright?" For the first time, Ellington became truly aware of the other people present in the room. They all gave off a rather important air, which Ellington got the distinct feeling she noticed more than she usually might.

Bernard followed her gaze, giving a little sigh as he came back to the reality of the situation. "If by 'alright' you mean fresh out of a panic attack with budding telepathic _and_ telekinetic abilities, then yes. She's perfectly _alright_." Still, despite his rather facetious tone, when he turned back to her Bernard's face was the picture of patience and concern. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and it was only then that she realized that he was holding it in the first place. She was still a bit too out of sorts to be fully aware of where her hands had gone after they'd come away from her ears, but apparently one was in her lap and the other was being held by the head elf.

"He's right, she'll be fine," said a brusque voice. What appeared to be a small man in a tunic fluttered into view, hovering just behind the shoulder of the woman with the rather majestic headdress. There was an intrigued look in his eyes as he viewed the situation, but if anything was catching his fancy he certainly didn't bring it up.

"She just needs a little time to rest," said an old, wizened man in the back, and the woman nodded in agreement before turning to speak to Santa. He nodded a few times and looked over at Ellington's bed, the secrecy making her heart pound again. She felt like a ticking time bomb, really. She had no idea the extent of what was going on with her own body, or why, or if she was ever going to be able to control it without being dosed up on whatever Hismus had given her. Was this a passing thing, or was it permanent? Would she ever be normal again?

Perhaps Bernard noticed, because a few seconds later he was rubbing circles into the back of her hand with his thumb, and she was beginning to calm down once more. The woman turned back to Ellington, smiling reassuringly as if aware of the state of panic the girl was in. "We are doing everything we can to make sure we understand your situation," she told her calmly, and Ellington felt a bit better. "Seeing as it's the middle of the night, we'll resume our efforts in the morning—and you should get some rest as well," she added with a motherly arch of her eyebrow. Ellington couldn't help but smile slightly at the gesture, nodding in reply. "Good night, Ms. Connelly."

Without further ado, the woman ducked out of the doorway, the rest of the odd group that Ellington was unfamiliar with following after her. She was left alone in the hospital wing with Santa, Bernard, a slight lingering ache in her head and a dozen questions.

"Are my sisters okay?" was the first thing out of her mouth when she was more comfortable with the company in the room. Bernard nodded and Santa came up to her bed, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Annise and Dottie are fine," he assured her, the ease in his tone all but putting her worries to rest. "They were worried sick about you, but we managed to convince them that you'll be alright with the proper help. Buddy may have helped talk them down."

"He is pretty convincing."

"Once they were sure you were in good hands, the elves gave them a once over to make sure they didn't have any injuries, and then took them back to the workshop for the night."

"Thank you," Ellington sighed, relieved, and a happy smile crossed her lips. Still, her cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry about all the trouble I've put everyone through."

"Nonsense!" Scott interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's not as if you _knew_ you were developing telepathy." He gave her a pointed look, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes before he broke down and yawned cavernously. "But that's something we can discuss in the morning. Think you can keep things under wraps for a few hours so we can all get some shuteye?"

"I'll do my best," Ellington agreed with a slight giggle, and Scott nodded in approval, still smirking.

"That's all we can ask for. Well I've got to get home, Carol's probably having trouble getting Buddy to sleep. Whenever something exciting happens, it's nearly impossible to get him to go to bed unless I'm there. Good night, Ellington. Sleep well." Ellington bid him goodnight, watching him leave and suddenly becoming acutely aware of the feeling of Bernard's fingers tangled up with hers.

"I know what Santa said," she added quietly with guilt all over her face. It was a bit surprising given how loopy she'd been a few minutes previously. "That I shouldn't feel guilty about what happened—about what's happening to me. But even before I went nuclear the dinner wasn't going well. I was trying to do what we talked about, to get through to Dottie and let bygones be bygones, but…she just isn't ready to let everything go. I just don't know where we went wrong." She trailed off for a moment, looking at the two lumps that were her feet under the blankets before looking back up at him.

"But besides that, I'm sorry that I'm becoming such a burden. I told you I would try to be as unobtrusive as possible, Bernard, and I feel like I'm slowly encroaching on your schedule and time—"

' _Not to be blunt,'_ Bernard cut in on her thoughts, still just as clear as he'd been before. ' _But quite frankly, none of this is your fault. And while I may have had to make a few adjustments here and there, you're hardly wrecking my routine.'_

' _Well I'm glad you can see it that way,'_ Ellington confessed with a slight laugh. She was in an amazingly good mood now, even though her eyes were beginning to droop. Whatever the doctor had given her, it was definitely working wonders.

"Besides, you shouldn't worry so much," Bernard added aloud, his voice seeming loud in the quiet room in spite of the fact that he was only speaking just above a whisper. "It's not good for you to worry right now, with all that's going on in that pretty head of yours."

Ellington's eyes popped open again, a hopeful and amused look on her face. "You think I'm pretty?" She asked, her eyes immediately sagging closed again as she began to lose the fight for consciousness. Still, she kept trying to open them, her interest in Bernard's reply fueling her attempts.

Bernard couldn't help but smirk at her efforts, musing on how oddly childish she looked. It wasn't something he was used to seeing in her so far. "Yeah, I guess you're pretty cute," he said fondly, a sideways smile crossing his lips.

"Well that's nice." Ellington gave a content sigh at his reply. "Night, Bernard," she slurred as she fell asleep under the influence of the medication. Bernard sat with her a few more moments until he was sure she was asleep before giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Goodnight, Elle."

* * *

By noon of the next day, it seemed that Hismus had worked the kinks out of whatever sedative cocktail he'd given Ellington the night before. She was given another injection, and this time, she didn't get loopy and giggly-just more focused and calm. She was told that she could head back to her room sometime that afternoon, but that was all she was told. In the meantime she simply scrolled through her phone, keeping herself occupied and hoping that she wouldn't start hearing any voices again.

Right off the bat she found that she had a plethora of new messages, all from strange numbers. Then she remembered that she'd given her digits to a few different elves over the course of the week, all ones who she had interacted with and helped with projects in various ways. She had found that her talents were helpful to some of the elves, who seemed to appreciate her creative input—especially since she was a human teen, who was up to date with current trends and such. They almost treated her as an expert, and she definitely didn't mind being able to help with something. With all the help she was receiving from Santa, the least she could do was pay it forward in any way she could.

So she saved their numbers under the names she could remember and replied to each of them, telling them she wasn't sure when she'd be back in the workshop but when she was, she'd be sure to drop by and take a look at things. She really hoped her 'problem' wouldn't reduce her to being grounded to her room for the rest of her stay. She was really beginning to enjoy interacting with everyone, with being a familiar face that the elves actually recognized and maybe even liked seeing around.

After that, the first thing she thought to do was search for was _telepathy_ and _telekinesis._ She wanted to know what she was getting into, and apparently, what she was getting into was controversial. Then again, so was everything she was surrounded by at the moment. She was in the hospital at the North Pole; pretty much anything was possible, right? Still, it felt a little unbelievable that it was all happening to her.

Right off the bat she made the conscious and personal decision not to ever try and intrude on someone's thoughts if she could help it. Thoughts were so extremely personal and while her fear of her newfound ability also contributed to the decision, it also came from a basic respect for privacy. Nobody really wanted a nosy girl poking around in their heads without permission, and as self-conscious as she already was about her freak powers Ellington didn't want to anger anyone.

Finally around one thirty she was escorted back to her room, where she found neither Annise or Dottie waiting for her. That was surprising, as she'd honestly expected at least Annise to be concerned about her condition. But when she asked one of the elves about where her sisters were, she was informed that Dottie and Annise had gone out together that morning. What a curious idea. Ellington wondered if they at least were getting along. She figured as the eldest sister, she would be the black sheep in Dottie's eyes for a while—especially after the events of the night before.

This did give Ellington enough time to take a shower and put on some clean clothes. Admittedly, she was still bone tired and trying to stay calm so that she didn't break into another headache, but at least she was in the room that she felt most at home in anywhere at the Pole.

Since she had no idea what she was supposed to do or where anybody was, she was planning on staying in her room so she didn't cause any trouble. But just when she was about to lay down and turn some Netflix on, a hurried knock came at her door.

'Are you decent?' Came Bernard's familiar voice, and it was only after a solid ten seconds that Ellington realized that he'd only thought it at her.

"Yeah, come in," she called back aloud, still hesitant to use her newfound ability, even with someone she trusted like Bernard.

"Could you hear me?" Bernard asked straight away, not bothering to beat around the bush. Ellington nodded at once, clasping her hands in her lap. She was sat cross-legged on her bed, looking a bit nervous in spite of her best attempts to remain peaceful. "Then why did you answer me out loud?"

Ellington gave a shy, almost ashamed little shrug. "I don't know how to control this yet, and…I guess I just didn't want to take any risks."

"You don't have to be afraid of what you can do, Elle." The elf sat down on the bench at the end of her bed, watching her curiously, but Ellington kept her eyes on her hands.

"No offense but from what I've read? I really should be," she admitted. "I mean, telepathy is pretty invasive, and telekinesis? Downright scary. Maybe things like that are common up here, but where I'm from…" She sighed. "With humans, something like this is the stuff of sci-fi, or freak shows: a _fiction_. I'm honestly hoping we can find a way to get rid of it before I have to go home."

"Wait, you think you can get _rid_ of this?" Bernard sounded disbelieving. "Get rid of your abilities?"

"Why not?" Ellington asked with a shrug. "I mean if Hismus can all but squelch them temporarily then there must be a way to destroy them altogether…" She froze mid sentence, looking up at Bernard in a panic. "Are you trying to tell me I might be _stuck_ like this? Permanently?" Her voice was eerily calm, despite the expression she wore.

Bernard shook his head. "You're looking at this all wrong," he explained patiently. "If you learn to control this, it could be a skill. You might even find it fun, eventually."

"Yeah, I don't exactly find hearing everyone's innermost thoughts entertaining or rewarding." She flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm starting to think this might all be a little more than I can handle." She stared at the red and green beams for a long moment before sighing and looking down at him. "Sorry, I shouldn't be unloading on you. What did you come here for?"

Bernard made a slightly peeved face. "You're not unloading, and I _told_ you to stop worrying about my taking time for you. I'm your chaperone, I'm here to help make things easier." He sighed and stood up. "As it so happens I actually did come here for a good reason—not that checking up on you isn't already one." He gave a slight smile. "The council would like to have a few words with you, if you're feeling up to it."

"The council?" Ellington repeated confusedly, before a look of understanding crossed her face. "Oh, those important people from the hospital. Right."

"How'd you know they were important?"

"Besides the obvious?" She tapped at her head. "The way they were dressed. If that doesn't scream "important" than I don't know what does." She sighed and sat up quickly, flinging her legs off the edge of the bed and slipping her shoes on. "Sure, why not? Doubt I'm going to be feeling much better any time soon if what you're trying to tell me is true."

"And what exactly am I trying to tell you?" Bernard asked skeptically.

"That there isn't, in fact, any cure for what I've got," Ellington levelled, an eyebrow raised. Seeing that he didn't argue she sighed again. "Right. Lead the way." Something told her that things were only going to get more difficult from then on out.

* * *

"What do we know about Ellington?" Mother Nature asked. Since the events of the night before, all attention had turned from the matter of Phillip Connelly's life to the rather curious case of his daughter's telepathic awakening. Seeing as the girl didn't come from any sort of an apparent magical background, the incident was a bit baffling.

"Not much," Scott admitted, drumming his fingers on his knee. "Seventeen, originally from Washington state, lives in Hawaii. Two sisters, mom and dad. On the nice list, for what it counts—minus a little stint on the naughty list back in 2005."

"Well, we can start with this." Carol came into the room, dropping a heavy manila folder onto the table in front of her husband. Scott looked a little taken aback at first but quickly caught on and began rifling through the contents. "I pulled a few strings back home within the school system, got all of Ellington's academic records and such. Thought it might give us a little insight into what her mind is like, considering how crucial that is to her gift."

"That's a fantastic idea Carol! Thank you," Scott replied, giving her a grateful smile. He passed the folder to Mother Nature, who passed out sections of the contents to each of the council members.

"If we all go at it maybe we'll find something quicker," she suggested, and the others murmured in agreement.

"Do you want to stay and help? We could use your educated eye, you know," Scott suggested, and after a moment's deliberation Carol nodded in agreement, pulling out a chair to the right of him.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot." Carol pulled what was left of the folder back, opening it and peeking in at the contents. The room dissolved into quiet, thoughtful noises over the next few minutes.

"The human education system is baffling," Mother Nature commented quietly after a while. "Compared to the magical ones, that is. Less intuitive and more…organized? Almost painfully so." Carol seemed to want to defend her old profession, but before she could the door to Santa's study opened and Ellington herself stepped into the room, followed closely by the head elf.

"Ah, the girl of the hour!" Scott said, breaking into a smile and pushing away the paperwork as if glad for an excuse to. Ellington gave a weak smile, a bit self-conscious in front of so many people of such status. These were all legendary figures, and she was just a teenager with a problem-well, _problems_.

"Are you feeling any better, honey?" Carol asked concernedly, immediately getting up to fuss over her in a motherly way. "Scott told me what happened last night, what a shame." Ellington had to admit, the feeling was rather welcome. She missed her parents a lot more now that her own state of wellbeing was in jeopardy too.

"I'm alright, thanks. Whatever Dr. Hismus gave me seems to be keeping things under control…for now." She didn't want to assume that it would continue to work. Who knew what would change with her abilities, everything was up in the air. Carol brought her to a chair and Elle sat down, crossing her ankles and trying not to look as nervous as she felt. Bernard was leaning over and whispering something in Santa's ear, and Ellington had to rein her thoughts in tightly to make sure that she wasn't accidentally eavesdropping—especially since mental communication with Bernard came so easily to her.

"We wanted to ask you a few questions," Mother Nature said with a kind smile, lacing her fingers on the table. "The rest of the council, Santa, Carol and I have spent a short time perusing your academic record to better understand your mental situation. I hope you don't find that too intrusive."

Ellington gave a short little laugh, raising her eyebrows. "Given the situation, I think _my_ privacy is the least of my worries."

"An astute observation," the woman agreed with a nod. "We've been trying to sort out the mystery of what has caused your powers, and how best to control them—especially considering how you developed them on such short notice."

"I appreciate it, I'm sure," Ellington replied, sounding faintly confused. She was still in the process of calming down, and was immensely grateful that Bernard was still nearby. For some reason, it felt like his presence was the only thing keeping her from completely freaking out. "I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but I'm afraid I don't know who you all are."

"Oh how thoughtless of me! We haven't been properly introduced." The woman turned to Santa, allowing him to take control of the situation as the host.

"Ellington, these are my friends—and incidentally, the members of the Council of Legendary Figures," Santa said, gesturing at each person in turn. "Mother Nature, Father Time, Sandman, Easter Bunny, Cupid, and—"

"And me!" A voice chimed in from the doorway, and Santa couldn't help but roll his eyes. Ellington lifted her gaze away from Cupid's (he had winked at her, which was more than a little worrying) to find a man in the doorway, brushing snow from his shoulders. She couldn't be sure but she thought she felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees—and Bernard's expression certainly went frigid enough if it hadn't. Apparently, this member was somewhat of a confrontational subject.

Easter Bunny and Cupid both groaned audibly, while Father Time tapped his staff ever so gently on the floor. "You're late again, Frost," he chided, but the man with the spiky blue hair and piercing blue eyes only tutted his tongue, straightening out the lapels of his suit jacket.

"Nonsense! Only fashionably so," the man quipped, finding his way around to take a seat at the end of the table furthest from Mother Nature. "Hello fellow members, Mrs. Claus, and oh! Resting grouch face. What a surprise. Didn't think your ever-so-busy schedule allowed for this sort of engagement." He immediately set his feet up on the tabletop, snow falling from the soles of his shoes which quickly earned him another irritated glare from Bernard's direction.

"This isn't your average council meeting—otherwise I would have no business being here," the head elf replied with no small amount of indignation. Apparently he wasn't one for letting insults roll off his back, Ellington noted. "And really? 'Resting grouch face'?"

"Oh, don't get your velvet britches in a bundle, Bernie. I only speak the truth." Jack winked and cracked his knuckles, clearly unfazed by Bernard's attitude.

"Nice to see you again, Jack," Scott added, not seeming to be too irritated by the newcomer's flippant behavior. "Glad you made it—ya know, _eventually."_

"Well, I couldn't turn down an invite from my old pal in the red coat, now could I?" The man smirked, clearly of the impish, mischievous sort—or at least that was the conclusion Ellington was coming to. Scott looked over at her, about to introduce the newcomer when Jack realized that they weren't alone. "Oh, well excuse _me_. We're in unfamiliar company, now aren't we?" He hopped up out of the chair with a bounce that seemed to contradict his apparent age. "Who might this young thing be?"

Bernard was already huffing, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest by the time Mother Nature replied. "Jack, this is Ellington Connelly," she explained in a tone that was a subtle prompt to behave. "She's one of the three bright young ladies Santa has invited North for Christmas."

"Is that so?" Jack asked curiously, and Ellington forced a slight smile. She found herself equal parts entertained and wary of the man's behavior, and since she was still a problem waiting to happen (at least in her own mind) she tried not to come off too chipper.

"The Emissary Clause," Scott explained, and no sooner had the word 'clause' come into play that Jack made a face.

"Another of those blasted rules! At least this one seems to have some perks: outsourcing. You could use some new faces up here—actual people, not just the short, pointy eared minions." Jack smiled at Ellington, reaching for her hand and kissing the back of it. Ellington did her best not to recoil at how chilly his own hands were, though she supposed that was to be expected. "Jack Frost," the man introduced himself, even though it was already apparent just who he was.

"An honor, I'm sure," Ellington replied, taking her hand back and rubbing it as if she'd hurt it somehow. Jack returned to his seat, still smiles and clearly unfazed by Ellington's unease. She didn't think to look up for a few moments until she heard a familiar voice pop into her mind again.

'You alright?' She looked up silently to find Bernard watching her with concern. 'Frost can be a real piece of work. He didn't hurt you, did he?'

'What? No, no of course not. I'm fine—well, as fine as can be expected,' she replied with another thin smile. She felt tired, Jack's exuberance making her feel even more drained. She was beginning to think that perhaps Hismus hadn't quite managed to get rid of all of the sedative effects from her medication when she realized she was being addressed by Mrs. Claus.

"Ellington?" The entire table was in fact looking at her, and Ellington felt a little more out of sorts.

She turned her gaze to the woman, forcing a more genuine smile and an attentive look. "Yes?"

"I was just telling the council about your test scores," Carol explained, and Ellington nodded. "Were they retakes, or…?"

"No, I only took them once each," Ellington replied, and Carol seemed almost disbelieving.

"So, you're telling me you placed in the ninety ninth percentile on your SATs, and at 204 on a standardized IQ test, first tries only?" Ellington hesitated before nodding, mainly because of the response of the other council members. "That's highly unusual you know," Carol clarified, and Ellington felt her cheeks heat up. "Isn't a score above a 180 on an IQ test genius level?" Murmuring around the table seemed to agree. "Do you have any explanation for that?"

Ellington suddenly felt like she was being interrogated. "Maybe they're flukes?"

"Don't sell yourself short, dear."

"Okay, then...I like studying?" she offered lamely, before adding, "I'm not bad at test taking, either. I don't know what to tell you. I think outside of the box, over analyze everything. Half of the questions on both of those tests I thought I was getting wrong. Besides, high IQ scores run in the family, so it's not that special. My grandfather was asked to join MENSA three times, so maybe my scores aren't surprising and are actually just _hereditary_ instead."

"Why was he asked three times?"

"Cause he kept turning them down. Said they were too pretentious. Apparently stubbornness runs in the family, too." 

"If mental aptitude runs in your family, then it would make sense that you manifested telepathy of all things," Mother Nature suggested. "It's possible you've always had a bend towards these powers, but coming North to the Pole and being exposed to high levels of magic may have kickstarted what was already there."

"So what you're saying is that all of this magic has gone to my head?" Ellington asked ruefully. That caused a few snickers, and the one that left her feeling most triumphant came from Bernard, stifling the noise with a cough. Jack on the other hand, outright laughed.

"I like her," he noted, and Ellington couldn't help but wonder if that were a good thing or not. 

"Something like that," Mother Nature concluded, rearranging the paperwork strewn across the desk into a neat stack. She handed it back to Scott, who passed it to Carol and she placed it all back into the original manila folder. "I think it's amplified your already exceptional mind into something more." The rest of the council nodded in agreement.

"I'm not sure this 'something more' is something I'm _ready_ for," Ellington admitted, fidgeting her hands in her lap. "Please understand, I'm not complaining, but I've already got enough going on without a mental breakdown constantly around the corner." She looked around the room at the others, eyes worried and a bit frightened. "Is there anything we can do to get rid of it? Anything at all?"

Mother Nature and Father Time shared a reluctant look, and Ellington knew the prospects weren't in her favor. "There are some things we could try, but they only work on beings who have possessed magic for long periods of time," Father Time explained carefully.

"That aside, you're human," Mother Nature went on. Seeing Ellington's mildly confused expression, Jack clarified.

"Fragile," he proclaimed, shifting in his seat casually. "Getting rid of your powers at such a vulnerable point could ruin your mind, is what I believe they're dancing around. Isn't that right?" Reluctantly, Mother Nature and Father Time nodded in agreement. "Great!"

"Great?" Scott asked, sounding disgusted, but Jack remained unfazed.

"Absolutely! Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we come to the more pressing matter."

"And that would be?" Bernard asked, the forced patience in his voice making Ellington worry.

Jack grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Who among us is going to teach this lovely young thing how to use her budding abilities?" In spite of the fact that the council didn't like where Jack was going with this, they didn't seem to be able to find a good argument against his point. "You all have enough on your plate as it is, right? Well, I happen to have a blank space in my schedule—"

"If you don't mind me saying," Bernard cut in, eyeing Jack sideways, "I feel like I don't even need to explain why this is a bad idea. Please tell me no one is actually considering this." The council remained silent, Easter Bunny giving a little shrug and Cupid murmuring that it wasn't the _worst_ option.

"Jack _does_ have experience working with…young sprites with powers," Mother Nature said delicately, and Ellington sensed that there was some kind of a bad history there was Jack seemed to clam up a little. "Perhaps he is the best suited for this task after all."

"Yeah, and that _experience_ turned out really well, didn't it?" Bernard snapped, clearly growing defensive. Jack made an annoyed sound, crossing and re-crossing his legs as if uncomfortable with the conversation—even though his face was growing angry. Ellington felt her heart-rate speed up, and she took a subtle breath to try and keep calm in spite of the tension in the room.

"Oh let it go, Bean-head," Jack spat irritably, giving the head elf a dismissive wave.

"Let it go?" Bernard gave a sardonic little laugh. "Sorry, but no. I'm Elle's chaperone, and I'm not okay with this."

"Come _on,_ what's the worst that could happen?"

Bernard's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What's the worst that could…you know damn well what! I for one am _not_ about to watch you lose your temper and skewer her with an icicle like you did your own sister—"

"ENOUGH!" Mother Nature slammed a gavel down on the table, cratering the surface ever so slightly. The room immediately went silent, Jack and Bernard still glaring at each other. "Have some courtesy for the state of our guest!" She said reproachfully, casting a worried look at Ellington's chair. The two turned their gazes away to find the girl with her hands over her ears, tears in her eyes—but she looked angry herself.

' _Elle?'_ Bernard asked her mentally, but the girl's expression didn't change. She did lower her hands though, shifting her glare between both of them.

"Calm down," she said shakily, and immediately both sprite and elf seemed to lose any animosity they were holding, their expressions shifting to a placated ease.

"I'm completely calm," Jack said, while Bernard merely nodded and squared his shoulders with a mild "of course." It took them both around ten seconds to realize what had just happened, but when they did they both looked at Ellington in disbelief.

' _Did you just…?'_ Bernard asked her privately, but Jack broke down into a pleased chuckle.

"Oh this is going to be a _lot_ of fun," he admitted, and Bernard could only manage a worried look in his direction.

"I don't care who teaches me what," Ellington said firmly, blinking back her tears. "All I know is that I _need_ to know how to control this—this _thing,_ this ability, before it starts controlling me." Her hands moved to clutch nervously at the armrests of her chair, nails digging into the plush upholstery.

Mother Nature viewed the girl with gravity and sympathy before raising her hand. "Motion to assign council member Jack Frost as tutor to Ellington Connelly? By a show of hands, please." Easter Bunny's hand went up first, after that, Father Time's. After a reluctant pause, Cupid also raised a tiny hand, which left Scott and Jack to vote.

"Santa?" Mother Nature asked, and Scott glanced over at his wife. Carol gave a gentle shrug.

"I really don't know what's best here, Scott. It's up to you." She set her hand over his, and Scott turned to look at Bernard. The elf was clearly anxious about the fact that the council seemed unanimous on the decision—and even though Ellington couldn't possibly have understood why he was so worried for her spending time around Jack, he found that he was still angry with her, as well.

"You know where I stand on the matter, sir." He raised his chin petulantly, ignoring Jack completely. He already knew that the vote was against him, and whether he liked it or not Jack would be taking up most of Ellington's time from then on out. Was that why he was so upset, or was it the reason he'd already stated?

He didn't have time to consider it further as Santa sighed and lifted his hand. Jack's was immediately in the air, and then he was on his feet, rubbing both hands together like some sort of spindly salesman.

"I guess that settles things then?" He said, a bright, satisfied smile plastered all over his face. Bernard wanted to punch him, in spite of Ellington's efforts from before to keep him calm.

"Motion carried," Mother Nature agreed, and with another bang of her gavel the vote was sealed. The rest of the council descended into quiet, unrelated conversation, and the meeting seemed to be for all intents and purposes adjourned. Jack gave Ellington a borderline giddy look, and the girl smiled back, albeit wearily. Her gaze wasn't on the winter sprite for long though, as her attention was quickly shifted to that of Bernard leaving the room, his back already to her.

' _Bernard?'_ She tried cautiously, but he didn't reply. He did falter slightly, and she knew he'd heard her mental plea, but then he pressed on, slipping out of the office doors before anyone else took the time to notice. Ellington felt her stomach sink. Was she wrong? Should she have taken Bernard's side? She certainly didn't know as much about Jack Frost's past as he seemed to, but the decision had been made now. She felt a cold hand come to rest on her shoulder, and she looked up into the bright blue eyes of her new mentor.

"So. Where do you want to start?"

**Author's Note:**

> Additional content for RoE can be found on my tumblr, including art, drabbles, AUs and more. I use the same username on all platforms, and I'm always happy to discuss my work, so feel free to shoot me a message or interact over there!


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